LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No. 

B^'^lhtifl 

,132 5u; 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




JOSEPH T. SMITH, D.D., LL.D. 



EIGHTY YEARS 



Embracing a History of Presbyterianism in 
Baltimore, with an Appendix 



BY 

JOSEPH T; SMITH, D. D., LL. D., 

Pastor Emeritus of the Central Presbyterian Church of Balti- 
more, Md. 



THE WESTMINSTER PRESS, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA., 
1899 




43.782 , 

opy right, 1899, 



Copyright, 1S99, by 
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publication 

_^ _^ .^ AND Sabbath-School Work. 

SLCOPRl CW^, 



TV/O COPIES RECElViiD, 







Dedication. 

The following pages are dedicated to the ses- 
sion of the Central Presbyterian Church of Bal- 
timore, at whose request they were prepared, in 
Knemory of long years . of loving fellowship, and 
tender sympathy, and hearty cooperation, and in 
testimony of the unnumbered acts of kindness 
with which the}^, along with the church they 
served, have brightened the closing years of a 
long life. 

Joseph T. Smith. 



Contents. 



Preface 

Baltimore, its Founders, and its Early Settlers , . 

First Presbyterian Church and its Pastors . . . 
Dr. Patrick Allison . . . 12 Dr. John C. Backus . . 
Dr. James Inglis .... 15 Dr. James T. Leftwicli 
Dr. Wm. Nevins .... 17 Dr. Jere Witherspoon . 

Second Church and its Pastors 



PAGE 

ix 



Dr. John Glendy > • » . 33 

Dr. John Breckinridge . 34 

Dr. Rob't J. Breckinridge. 35 

Dr. Lewis W. Green . . 39 

Dr. Joseph T, Smith . . 40 



Dr. George P. Hayes , 
Dr. Jonathan Edwards 
Dr. Robert H, Fulton , 
Dr. Alexander Proudfit 
Rev. Robert H, Taylor 



Third Church and its Pastors 

Dr. George W. Musgrave . 49 Rev. Griffith Owen . 
Dr. Theodic Prior ... 50 



9 
19 

25 

29 

30 
45 
46 

47 

47 
48 

49 
51 



Fourth Church and its Pastors 51 

Rev. George Dugan Pur- Dr. Jacob Amos Lefever, . 52 
viance 51 Rev. Mr. Woods 52 



Fifth Church and its Pastors 52 

Dr. J. G. Hamner ... 52 R. S. Hitchcock 53 

Constitutional Church * 53 

V 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

AisQuiTH Street Church and its Pastors 53 

Rev. Robert W. Dunlap . 54 Rev. J. A. Lapsley . ... 55 

Rev. Thomas Warren . 55 Rev. J. S. Noyes 55 

Rev. David T. Carnahan . 55 Rev. George D. Buchanan . 55 

Rev. J. S. Stuchell ... 55 Rev. Silas Davenport ... 55 

Dr. James S. Ramsay . . 55 Dr. J. Addison Smith . . . 55 

Broadway Church and its Pastors -56 

Dr. Thomas E. Peck . . 56 Rev. John L. Fulton ... 59 

Rev. F. W. Brauns . . . 57 Dr. George E. Jones . , , 60 

Rev. J. J. Coale .... 58 Rev. W. J. Rowan .... 61 
Rev. John McCoy ... 59 



Franklin Street Church and its Pastors 

Dr. William S. Plumer . . 62 Dr. J. J. Bullock . . . 
Dr. N. C. Burt 67 Dr. Wm. U. Mulrkland 



Westminster Church and its Pastors 

Dr. Wm. J. Hoge .... 68 Rev. Morris E. Wilson 
Dr. Cyrus Dickson ... 69 Rev. J. W. Rpgan . . 
Dr. David C. Marquis . . 80 Rev. John M. Allison . 
Dr. W^m. J. Gill .... 81 



61 
67 
67 

68 

81 
81 
81 



Central Church and its Pastors 82 

Dr. Stuart Robinson . . 84 Dr. Joseph T. Smith ... 87 

Dr. Thomas E. Peck . . 86 Rev. Hugh K. Walker . . 97 

Rev. Silas G. Dunlap . . 86 Rev. DeWitt M. Benham . 97 

Madison Street Church (Colored) and its Pastors ... 99 

Rev. Robert L. Galbreath, 100 Rev. Joseph Carr loi 

Rev. Mr. Revels .... 101 Dr. Wm. H. W^eaver . . . loi 

Twelfth Church and its Pastors 102 

Rev. C. B. McKee . . .102 Dr. J. M. Jelly 103 

Rev, James Hughes . . . 103 Rev. Sylvester W. Beach . 103 
Rev. Wm. R. Marshall . 103 Dr. David B. Greigg ... 103 
Rev. Jas. M. Maxwell . . 103 Rev. Joseph S. Malone . . 103 



CONTEIS'TS. Vll 

PAGE 

Light Street Church and its Pastors 103 

Rev. Henry J. Kaufman . 103 Rev. James D. Fitzgerald . 105 

Rev. John H. Potter . . 105 Rev. J. P. Green 105 

Rev. G. W. Hair . . . .105 Rev. Kinley McMillen . . 105 
Rev. Wm. G. Hillman . 105 Rev. W. M. Everett ... 105 
Dr. David J. Beale ... 105 

Brown Memorial Church and its Pastors 105 

Dr. John Sparhawk Jones. 107 Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock . . 108 
Dr. Frank Gunsaulus . . 107 

Knox Church (Colored) and its Pastors 109 

Rev.Wm.McC. Hargrave.iio Rev. Alonzo S. Gray . . .110 
Rev. Wm. C. Brown . . no 

Tome Street Church and ITS Pastor in 

Rev. J. Wynne Jones . .113 

Grace Church AND its Pastors 113 

Rev. Mr. Higgins . . .113 Rev. Edward F. Eggleston. 114 
Rev. Charles Hedges . .113 

Lafayette Square Church AND its Pastors 115 

Rev. Samuel McLanahan. 116 Rev. Llewellyn S. Fulmer . 1 18 
Rev. Robert J. Rankin .117 

Boundary Avenue Church AND ITS Pastors 118 

Dr. George T. Purves . . 119 Rev. Frank E. Williams. . 120 
Dr. William Durant . . 1 20 

Abbott Memorial Church and its Pastor 121 

Rev. J. Wynne Jones . . 121 

Faith Church and its Pastor 122 

Rev. John P. Campbell . 124 

Fulton Avenue Church and its Pastor ........ 125 

Rev. Edward H. Robbins.126 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Church OF THE Covenant AND ITS Pastors 126 

Rev. William L, Austin . 126 Rev. Henry S. Graham . . 128 

Bohemian Church and its Pastors 128 

Rev. Vaclav Losa . , .128 Rev. V. Vanek . . . , . . 129 

Park Church and its Pastor 129 

Rev. George L. Curtis . 130 

RiDGLEY Street Church and its Pastor .130 

Rev. Edward E, Weaver. 132 

Crisp Memorial Church and its Pastors 133 

Rev. Charles E. Fisk . . 134 Rev. Mr, Adams 134 

Rev. Wm. L, Parsons . . 134 Rev. Thomas L. Springer . 134 

Reid Memorial Hope Institute 134 

Rev. William Caldwell .135 

APPENDIX. 
Spiritual condition and progress of the Churches . .137 

The Civil War 148 

Church Unity 159 

Federation of Presbyterian Churches 171 

Sermon ON eightieth birthday 180 

Sermon on the death of Dr. Johns 200 

Address on acts and deliverances of the General As- 
sembly during the war 224 



PREFACE. 

The Presbytery of Baltimore at its sessions in 
October, 1898, resolved to notice in some suitable 
way the approaching eightieth birthday of its 
oldest pastor. A committee to draw up an ap- 
propriate paper was appointed, consisting of 
Rev. John P. Campbell, D. D., Rev. Robert H. 
Williams, D. D., Rev. J. Wynne Jones, Rev. 
Howard Taylor, W. W. Spence, J. Abercrombie 
and W. H. Cole. The Presbytery further re- 
quested that Dr. Smith should preach a sermon 
on the occasion. The session of the Central 
Church arranged that the sermon should be 
preached in their church on the afternoon of his 
eightieth birthday, Sunday, November 6th. The 
committee further requested that he would pre- 
pare a book giving some reminiscences of the dif- 
ferent ministers and churches in the city during 
his fifty years' residence in Baltimore. On dif- 
ferent occasions he has seen best to review the 
history of the churches in Baltimore and he has 
used freely the material thus furnished wherever 
appropriate to the occasion. He has gone at 
greater length into the history of the First and 



X PREFACE. 

Second Churches and their pastors because these 
are historic churches, and their earlier history is 
known to comparatively few. The notice as to 
the later churches and their living pastors is 
more brief. In some cases the information is not 
as full as desired because in the short time al- 
low^ed all the facts could not be secured. In the 
pages following will be found a copy of the ser- 
mon preached and the reminiscences of ministers 
and sketches of church history requested. 
Baltimore^ Md.^ Decemher^ 1898. 



EIGHTY YEARS, 

BALTIMOEE, ITS FOL^DEES, EARLY 

SETTLERS, AND PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCHES, 

The three great powers of Europe, Spain, 
France and England, contended Avith each other 
for the possession of the new world. Spain, then 
the mightiest empire on earth, claimed the whole 
by right of discovery, and seized upon the West 
Indies, the Isthmus, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico, 
and was gradually pushing her way northward. 
France took possession of Canada and was slowly 
advancing southward down the great valley and 
up to the base of the AUeghenies. Between 
these upper and nether millstones the feeble 
English colonies along the middle- Atlantic coast 
it would seem must either be ground to powder 
or shut up in a narrow prison house between the 
mountain and the sea. But not to Papal Spain, 
or Papal France, but to Protestant England God 
has given the magnificent inheritance of the new 



2 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

world. Canada, whose broad domains extended 
from the Great Lakes to the northern pole, passed 
into the hands of England. The thirteen Eng- 
lish colonies, in process of time, transformed into 
independent States and compacted into the 
mightiest Republic the Avorld has ever seen, grad- 
ually annexed Florida, Louisiana, large portions 
of Mexico, and extended their ever widening 
boundaries from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
from the Great Lakes to the sunny Gulf. Then, 
passing from the continent to the islands along- 
side, emancipated them from Spanish control 
and left to Spain not a shred of her old domin- 
ions in the new world. 

Presbyterians were among the last of the 
great Protestant bodies who sought an asylum in 
America. The storm of persecution which drove 
so many from the fatherland fell first upon In- 
dependents, Catholics and Friends. Presbyteri- 
ans were left amidst the struggles and triumphs 
of the Commonwealth and the fier}^ trials of the 
Restoration to be purified and disciplined for 
their glorious mission to the new world. IS'ot 
till it was attempted by Charles II. to enforce 
the Act of Uniformity, infamous among the 
nameless infamies of the Stuarts' reign, did Pres- 
byterians in large numbers come over from Scot- 
land and the north of Ireland. 

Midway of the Atlantic coast God had thrust 



EIGHTY YEARS. 3 

a great inland sea far into the land and reaching 
up toward the precious things of the mountains 
and of the great valley beyond. With its genial 
skies and spacious harbors, commanding at once 
the commerce of the land and the sea, it seemed 
destined to be the Mediterranean of the new 
world. In 1632 the Chesapeake with a wide area 
around, was granted by royal charter of Charles 
I. to Lord Baltimore. The king was an intoler- 
ant Protestant, the proprietor was an intolerant 
Catholic, for toleration was then a thing un- 
known to either. Since neither could persecute 
the other, the very necessities of the case com- 
pelled the toleration of both religions, and de- 
spite themselves and despite the intolerance of 
the age Maryland became an asylum, almost the 
only one, for the oppressed of every faith. Per- ' 
secuted Presbyterians, from Scotland, Ireland, 
New England and Pennsylvania, fled to Mary- 
land, and Presbyterian churches were established 
on the Eastern Shore, far down toward the sea, 
gradually extending westward along both shores, 
with the advancing population. 

At the head of the Chesapeake, 200 miles from 
the sea, God had spread out a magnificent har- 
bor, large enough to accommodate the commerce 
of the world. Around it, in 1730, Baltimore ' 
town was laid out, on a paltry patch of sixty 
acres of marshes and ravines and bluffs, but sur- 



4 EIGHTY YEARS. 

rounded with beds of iron and quarries of marble 
and falls and tumbling torrents, affording, it is 
said, a larger water power than any similar area 
of the world. So situated, if the Chesapeake 
was to become the Mediterranean of the new 
world, Baltimore would be its Tyre. 

In 1730 the Episcopal Church was established 
in Maryland, and St. Paul's, the mother of all 
our Episcopal churches was the first built in Bal- 
timore town. Soon after, the Catholics, and 
after them the Lutherans, and then the Friends, 
built their little wooden sanctuaries, and gathered 
their little companies of worshipers. ISTot till 
about 1760 do we hear anything of Presbyterians 
in Baltimore town. By that time a few had 
come from other quarters, as Stevenson from 
Ireland, and Plowman from England, but the 
larger number came from central Pennsylvania 
whence they were driven by the difficulties which 
had arisen between the Colonial Assembly and 
the Proprietary Government. It is not invidious 
to say that these men beyond most others, gave 
to Baltimore its commercial prosperity and in 
the face of all rivals, St. Mary's, Joppa and An- 
napolis, made her the Queen of the Chesapeake. 
Their names are found on our streets and our 
wharves, and are engraved on our social, educa- 
tional and philanthropical institutions in letters 
more imperishable than those on their marble 



EIGHTY YEARS. 5 

mausoleums in the Gay Street and Westminster 
burying grounds. 

Among them were such names as these : Buch- 
anan, Patterson, Calhoun, Gilmer, McKim, Mc- 
Elderry, Murdoch, Meredith, McDonald, Bryson, 
Chase, Eamsay, Hayes, White, Beatty, George, 
Hollins, Gregg, Stirling, the Smiths, the Purvi- 
ances, and the Browns. These names are house- 
hold words, associated with all the great enter- 
prises of the city and still perpetuated and hon- 
ored in the persons of their numerous descend- 
ants. As a specimen of the whole, take from 
our oldest historic church three of our oldest his- 
toric families; the Smiths, Purviances and the 
Browns. 

Of the Smiths, John, first of the name, came 
to Baltimore town about 1763, when it was a 
paltry little village of some thirty houses and less 
than 300 inhabitants. He founded soon after 
his arrival the large commercial house of Smith 
& Buchanan. It was largely through his influ- 
ence that legislation was secured which trans- 
formed the basin into the port and made Balti- 
more a commercial metropolis. He became a 
member of the committee which transformed the 
colony into the State and gave the remnant of 
his life largely to the service of the infant com- 
monwealth. Eobert, his son, was a leading mem- 
ber of the House and afterwards of the Senate of 



6 EIGHTY YEAES. 

the State, Attorney-General and Secretary of the 
I^avy of the United States, Provost of the Uni- 
versity of Maryland, and first President of the 
Bible Society. Another son Samuel, was Major- 
General in the Army of the United States, the 
hero of Brandywine and Fort Mifflin, defender 
of Baltimore in 1812, illustrious in war as his 
brother in peace. 

Contemporary with the Smiths were the Pur- 
viances, Robert and Samuel. They, too, became 
the founders of one of our largest commercial 
houses, and cooperated influentially in the meas- 
ures which insured the commercial supremacy 
of Baltimore. When the long strife with the 
mother country culminated in the determination 
to unite the colonies in resistance to the Stamp 
Act and the Boston Port Bill, the Purviances se- 
cured the calling of a public meeting at which a 
resolution was passed pledging the support of 
Baltimore to the common cause and originating 
the movement which led to the calling of a gen- 
eral congress of the colonies. Through all the 
dark days of the Revolution, the Purviances Avere 
the trusted agents of Congress in securing ships 
and supplies from Maryland. Robert became 
the first naval officer and collector of the port. 
Samuel was made chairman of a committee to cor- 
respond with the other towns of the colonies to 
secure their allegiance to the common cause. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 7 

For the high place occupied by Maryland in those 
times which tried men's souls she is indebted 
most of all to the Purviances. Judge John Pur- 
viance, son of Robert, brought to the bench a 
wealth of learning, a dignity and urbanity of 
bearing, and an integrity above all suspicion 
which deviated the bar of Baltimore to the high 
place it has maintained ever since. His daughter. 
Miss Margaret Purviance, gave her life to minis- 
trations of mercy, following closely the footsteps 
of the Great Benefactor, as he went about doing 
good. There is scarce a house of mercy in Balti- 
more on which her name is not written in letters 
of light. In how many sorrowing hearts, and in 
how many stricken households is it enshrined! 
"When the ear heard, then it blessed her; be- 
cause she delivered the poor that cried, and the 
fatherless, and him that had none to help him. 
The blessing of him that was ready to perish 
came upon her : and she made the widow's heart 
to sing for joy." 

The Browns belong almost to our own genera- 
tion. We name them here because they were of 
like spirit with those who had gone before, en- 
tered into their labors, perfected what they had 
commenced, and perpetuated their character and 
influence among us to this day. Alexander, first 
of the name, came to Baltimore in 1800, founded 
the great banking house of Brown Brothers, with 



8 EIGHTY YEARS. 

branches in Philadelphia, New York, Liverpool, 
London, and credit everywhere. His son, George, 
inherited his high character and ample fortune, 
and made the name of George Brown, may we 
not say it, the most illustrious in the long roll call 
of Baltimore worthies. A model merchant, a 
model man, a model Christian, with a business 
sagacity that was seldom at fault, and an integ- 
rity that was never soiled, he gave his money, 
his influence, and himself, freely to every good 
work. Head of the great house of Brown 
Brothers, founder of the Merchants' Bank, presi- 
dent of the Mechanics' Bank, father bej^ond all 
others of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, his 
material monuments are all around us. But it is 
his highest honor that he used his influence and 
his wealth as talents held from God to be em- 
ployed for the good of men. Beyond all others 
he inaugurated the era of beneficence, first in the 
long succession of the Wilsons, McDonoughs, 
Peabodys, Kelsos, Hopkinses, and Pratts, which 
have made the name of Baltimore's benefactors 
illustrious. 

From his ascending chariot his mantle fell on 
his widow, Mrs. Isabella Brown. His spirit still 
lived incarnate in her and still scattered its bene- 
factions around through her hands. How in- 
stinctively every good cause turned to her for 
help, how abundant were her benefactions, and 



EIGHTY YEARS. 9 

how much was she beloved of the Lord, for be- 
yond all we have known she was a cheerful 
giver. When asked for any good cause she al- 
ways made you feel that the favor was done to 
her, in affording her the luxury of giving. Not 
Brown Hall in Princeton or Brown Memorial 
Church alone, there was scarcely a church in the 
Presbytery, or a house of mercy in the city or 
commonwealth, which did not share her benefac- 
tions. Her mantle fell again upon her son, 
George S., and thank God, the spirit of George 
Brown still lives incarnate, not in one family 
alone, but in measure in the whole Presbyterian 
household. Examine the statistics of the great 
institutions which symbolize our common Chris- 
tianity, Bible Society, Tract Society, Sunday- 
school Union. Presbyterians may invite com- 
parison with their brethren of every name. Such 
were the men who founded the Presbyterian 
churches of Baltimore, and such the spirit they 
breathed into them. 

FIEST CHURCH. 

It is diflBcult to fix the time when the First 
Church originated, for it grew into a church 
slowly and by successive transformations from a 
little company of worshipers meeting from 
house to house without pastor or leader. In 
1763 they invited the Rev. Patrick Allison to be- 



10 EIGHTY YEARS. 

come their minister and in the same year erected 
a little log church. They had no ecclesiastical 
organization but were governed as a secular as- 
sociation by a committee or board of directors 
of their own choice and responsible only to them. 
In 1798 the congregation was incorporated by 
Act of Assembly under the name of the " Com- 
mittee of the Presbyterian Church in the City of 
Baltimore." This committee without ordination 
or relation of any sort to the Presbytery com- 
bined all offices in itself and administered all af- 
fairs of the congregation, temporal and spiritual. 
It was not till the year 1804 that the congrega- 
tion was transformed into a church by the elec- 
tion and ordination of elders. Its first elders 
Avere Robert Purviance, David Stewart, Chris- 
topher Johnson, George Salmon, and Ebenezer 
Findlay. 

Their first house of worship was a little log 
building near the corner of Gay and Fayette 
Streets where Christ Church now stands. Soon 
after the arrival of Dr. Allison it was determined 
to erect a new church on the northwest corner 
of Fayette and N^orth Streets, and in 1766 the 
church was finished and occupied. It was a 
plain, brick building 35x45 feet and had thirty- 
six pews, a large church for those days. This in 
turn gave place to a larger brick building on the 
same site which after successive enlargements, 



EIGHTY YEARS, 11 

renovations and ornamentations, in 1792 appeared 
as the two-towered church, so familiar to all our 
older inhabitants. It stood on a hill, for the 
bluff on a spur of which it was built had not then 
been leveled. It had a spacious portico ; and an 
entablature supported by four large, white, Doric 
pillars, crowned by two steeples, and was ap- 
proached by a Pilate's stairway of stone steps, 
long and winding and weary of ascent. 

In 1853, owing to the encroachment of busi- 
ness and the removal of many families, it Avas 
determined to remove the church further west- 
ward, and a lot was secured on the corner of 
Madison and Park Streets and the building com- 
menced. The old church was sold to the United 
States Government which leveled the hill and 
erected the courthouse that now marks the spot. 
On a memorable Sabbath in 1859 farewell serv- 
ices were held in the old church, conducted by 
Dr. Backus assisted by other pastors in the city. 
None that witnessed that scene can ever forget 
it. Tears dimmed the eyes or rolled down the 
cheeks of the old men, and all as they bade fare- 
well to the hallowed spot turned away with slow 
and reluctant steps. 

On the following Sunday the new church was 
opened with simple but impressive ceremony. 
The building is an ornament to the city which 
arrests the steps and awakens the admiration of 



12 EIGHTY YEARS. 

the most careless passer-by. It is a masterpiece 
of art, with its exquisite proportions, its delicate 
traceries, and Gothic foliage wreathed around its 
springing arches. It is a sermon in stone, its 
lofty tower rising above all and its tall spire 
pointing with fixed finger to heaven. 

PASTORS OF THE FIRST CHURCH. 

Dr. Allison, first in the long succession of 
pastors, Avas born in Lancaster, Pa., in the year 
1740. He w^as graduated by the University of 
Pennsylvania in 1760. He commenced at once 
the study of theology privately, for in those 
days there were no theological seminaries, was 
licensed to preach by the second Presbytery of 
Philadelphia, in March, 1763, and in August, 
1763, was installed pastor of the First Church. 

Dr. Allison was a prince in Israel, " a born 
leader and commander of the people." With an 
intellect of a high order and the broadest culture 
of his times, with tireless energy and rare ad- 
ministrative gifts, he was just the man for the 
times. For he came to the kingdom in a most 
important crisis in its history during that great 
transition era, when old things were passing 
away and all things were becoming new, the era 
of Napoleon in Europe and of Washington in 
America. Accumulated rubbish was to be swept 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 13 

away and foundations were to be laid anew. For 
such a time as this God had raised up Dr. Alli- 
son. His long pastorate of almost forty years ex- 
tended over this most eventful period in the his- 
tory of the city, the Church and the world. He 
witnessed the growth of the little village of 
thirty log houses into a city ; he saw the founda- 
tions laid of those institutions, commercial, edu- 
cational and philanthropic which have made Bal- 
timore what it is. He was cotemporary with 
the Declaration of Independence and heard the 
ringing of bells which proclaimed "liberty 
throughout all the land to all the inhabitants 
thereof." He accompanied the armies of the 
Revolution on many a weary march, to many a 
bloody battlefield of alternate victory and defeat, 
during the seven years' war of Independence. 
He witnessed the transformation of the colony 
of Maryland, with its royal governor and es- 
tablished Church, into the free State of Mary- 
land, with its free Church. He witnessed the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution which made 
of the many weak and struggling colonies one 
great nation. In the very same year with the 
Federal Constitution he saw the constitutions of 
the two historic English churches, the Presby- 
terian, and Episcopal, formed after the same 
model and largely by the same men. And how- 
ever either, or both, may have departed in any 



14 EIGHTY YEARS. 

measure from their own principles, their con- 
stitutions bind both to a Republican form of 
government in which the people under Christ 
are their own rulers and assemblies and conven- 
tions and presbyteries and bishops are their ex- 
ecutive agents, constitutional and not arbitrary 
rulers. In many of these momentous changes 
Dr. Allison was a most influential actor. He 
was the confidential friend of Washington, chap- 
lain to Congress when it sat in Baltimore, and 
shared the councils of the leading statesmen of 
the day. His studies and experience as a states- 
man were an education for his higher work as an 
ecclesiastic. In Americanizing the Westminster 
Confession and adapting it to its new environ- 
ment, no influence, not even that of Dr. Rogers 
or Dr. Witherspoon was more potential than that 
of Dr. Allison. For seven successive years, dur- 
ing its whole forming period, he was moderator 
of the Presbytery of Baltimore. 

As a preacher he was not brilliant or breezy 
or popular in the present sense of those terms. 
Argumentative and unimpassioned, he addressed 
himself to the understanding of his hearers. His 
discourses were largely on ethical themes, and 
the moralities as distinguished from the spiritu- 
alities of the gospel. He belonged to the old 
style of those days and was a conservative of the 
conservatives. He stood in doubt of the Whit- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 15 

fields, Tennants, and Blairs of his time, and looked 
upon their work at first with wonder, and finally 
Avith open disapproval. Under his ministry, what- 
ever deeper spiritual experiences any might have, 
religion was looked upon largely as a thing of 
credible professions and outward moralities. 
There were neither weekly lectures, nor prayer 
meetings, nor Sunday-schools, nor Young People's 
Societies, nor Old People's Societies, nor any of 
those churches within the church which are now 
deemed so helpful. At the close of Dr. Allison's 
pastorate the congregation was large, wealthy, 
fashionable, strong in all the elements of mate- 
rial and social strength, but waiting for power 
from on high. 

DR. JAMES IIS^GLIS. 

In 1802, full of years and honors. Dr. Allison 
was gathered to his fathers, and Avas succeeded 
by Dr. James Ingiis. He was born in Philadel- 
phia, in 1777, of mingled Scotch and Huguenot 
ancestors. He was graduated at (Columbia Col- 
lege, New York, at the age of eighteen. Having 
chosen the law as his profession, he entered as a 
student the law office of Alexander Hamilton, 
but the Lord had need of him for a higher service 
and called him by his Spirit for the work of the 
ministry. He prosecuted his theological studies 



16 EIGHTY YEARS. 

under the direction of Dr. Rodgers, and was 
licensed by the Presbj^tery of New York in 
1801. 

Two marked advances took place under Dr. 
Ingiis's ministry — the discharge of the old com- 
mittee from all spiritual functions by the elec- 
tion of elders in 1804 and the commencement 
of weekly lectures. Dr. Inglis was courtly and 
cultured in his manners and eloquent of the high- 
est type of eloquence. His polished discourses, 
though read, were delivered with all the fluency 
and fervor of extemporaneous speech. The poi- 
son of French infidelity had infected many of 
the leading statesmen of the day, permeated 
the schools and colleges of the land and spread 
throughout the entire community. What a sad 
picture Dr. D wight has given of the abounding 
infidelity of the times. Christianity was largely 
banished from all courtly and cultured social 
circles. Dr, Inglis by his learning and eloquence 
won back many of the alienated classes. At 
the close of his seven 3^eai^' ministrj^, merchant 
princes, bankers, professional and educated men, 
were found in large numbers in the church. In 
1819, on a Sabbath morning, while the congre- 
gation were assembled waiting for his appear- 
ance, a messenger came to them with the 
tidings that their pastor had died suddenly of 
apoplexy. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 17 

DR. WILLIAM KEVINS. 

Dr. Inglis was succeeded by Dr. William 
Nevins, Avhose name is as ointment poured forth. 
He was born in Norwich, Conn., October 13th, 
1797, was graduated at Yale in 1816, and pur- 
sued his theological studies at Princeton. He 
was installed pastor of the First Church October 
19th, 1820. 

Dr. Nevins was in every way a remarkable 
man. Of ardent temperament, imperial imagi- 
nation and exquisite sensibilities. He was a poet, 
an artist, a musician aiid an orator. Genial as 
the sunshine, with that nameless magic of pres- 
ence which won all hearts. He seemed to be 
born for a life of luxurious ease and indolent 
enjoyment, and upon such a life he seems in 
early youth to have entered. While living with- 
out God in the world, suddenly there appeared 
to him, as to Paul on his way to Damascus, a 
vision of the crucified Saviour, and instantly the 
whole current of his life was changed. Coming 
to a church large, wealthy and influential, but 
spiritually dead, for long years he waited and 
watched, more than them who watch for the 
morning, but there was neither sign nor voice. 
While his preaching was admired for its artistic 
excellence and attracted crowds of interested 
hearers, and among them none more interested 
than William Wirt and his literary friends, the 



18 EIGHTY YEARS. 

church was not quickened, souls were not born 
unto God and his ministry seemed to him to be 
fruitless. At length, on an ever memorable Sab- 
bath morning, March 7th, 1827, he entered his 
pulpit as usual. There were no unwonted stir- 
rings in his own heart and no unusual signs in 
the congregation, when he arose and announced 
his text, "ISTow is the accepted time." As he 
went on a strange spirit began to breathe and 
burn in his words and he spake with another 
tongue as the Spirit gave him utterance and the 
Holy Ghost fell upon the entire assembly. There 
Avas no sound of rushing winds or sign of cloven 
tongues. But the effect of that sermon was no 
less marvelous than that of Dr. Edwards' on 
'' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," or of 
Peter's on the day of Pentecost. That was the 
Baltimore Pentecost. And not on the First 
Church alone, but on the same day, the baptism 
of the Spirit fell on the Second and Third 
Churches. Christians were revived and lifted up 
to a higher plane of Christian living and souls in 
large numbers were brought home to God. The 
evangelical spirit which is in our churches to-day 
was inbreathed on that memorable morning. In 
the full noon of his years, and in the midst of 
his usefulness, when but thirty-seven years 
of age he died, and dying left to us the 
precious legacy of his evangelical spirit and a 



EIGHTY YEARS. 19 

new apocalypse of heaven in his ^'Practical 
Thoughts." 

DR. JOHN C. BACKUS. 

Dr. Nevins was succeeded in 1836 by the Eev. 
Dr. John C. Backus. 

Dr. Backus was born in Wethersfleld, Conn., 
on the 3d day of September, 1810. A child of the 
covenant, he was nurtured in a family of affluence 
and refinement, and surrounded in childhood 
with all the hallowed influences of a Christian 
home. Planted in the house of the Lord, brought 
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, he 
devoted himself in early youth to his service in 
the ministry. He enjoyed the highest advantages 
of literary and theologicval training, and profited 
in these above most of his fellows. He was 
licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, 
and immediately after appointed agent of the 
Board of Domestic Missions. On his way south 
he stopped in Baltimore, preached in the First 
Church, then vacant, was called to be their 
pastor, and ordained and installed on the 15th of 
September, 1836. The First Church was then 
the leading church in the city and in the Presby- 
tery. Dr. Xevins, whom he was to succeed, 
was a man of preeminent gifts, ''full of faith 
and the Holy Ghost," and the young pastor, ever 
profoundly self -mistrustful, was overwhelmed 



20 EIGHTY YEAES. 

with the magnitude of the work before him. 
But taking hold of the arm of Everlasting 
Strength, strong in the Lord and in the power of 
his might, he went forward, " faint and yet pur- 
suing," perplexed but not in despair. From the 
hour when he uttered his ordination vows dates 
the beginning of that long career of supreme 
devotion and superabundant labors, which ended 
only with his life. 

To the people of his charge he gave himself 
with whole-souled consecration. His preparation 
for the service of the pulpit was most laborious, 
— investigating, reading up on every subject, and 
Avriting out every sermon fully. Even his vaca- 
tions brought him no rest. The winter's work 
was mapped out, and materials for it accumulated 
during the summer holidays. As a pastor, we 
know not how to speak truthfully of him without 
seeming to transcend the truth. All the families 
of his charge, with all their peculiarities of age 
and temperament, and culture and social position, 
were borne severally on his mind and heart. His 
ministrations of all good gifts to the poor of his 
flock, his tender solicitude for the young, his 
manly counsels to men of business, his tender 
sympathies with the aged and the infirm as he 
went out and in among them, made him like 
John the beloved. There was scarcely a phase 
of Christian experience through which he himself 



EIGHTY YEARS. 21 

had not passed, and the inquiring, the perplexed, 
the spiritually troubled in every way found in him 
the counsels of one in whom the same affliction 
had been accomplished. At the bed of sickness, 
in the chamber of grief, at the funeral, he was a 
very angel of consolation. He watched for souls 
over which the Holy Ghost had made him over- 
seer, as one that must give account. 

While pastor of the First Church Dr. Backus 
was at the same time bishop in the Bible sense of 
overseer of all the churches. When he came to 
Baltimore he found but three Presbyterian 
churches, and while the city was rapidly ex- 
tending there was no corresponding extension of 
the church. In 1842 in conjunction with Dr. E. 
J. Breckinridge, he called a meeting of the lead- 
ing members of the First and Second Churches, 
and laid before them a carefully matured plan of 
church extension, which was heartily approved 
and in the execution of which all agreed to 
cooperate. From that meeting began a work of 
church extension unexampled in this city, and 
perhaps in any other. As its immediate result 
twenty new churches were organized in the 
Presbytery and eight in the city within the 
following twelve years, and the extension was 
going on with increasing vigor until arrested by 
the approaching civil war. 

During his visit to Scotland Dr. Backus called 



22 EIGHTY YEAES. 

on Dr. Chalmers, the Moses of the Scottish Free 
Church. The Doctor handed him his book, 
" Christian Economics," unfolding the Bible 
plan of systematic beneficence as revived in 
the Free Church of Scotland. On his return 
home Dr. Backus secured its adoption by his 
own church and other churches in the city, and 
became its zealous advocate in Synods, Presby- 
teries and Assemblies. For the high vantage 
ground our Church occupies to-day in the matter 
of systematic giving we are indebted, above all 
human instrumentalities, to Dr. Backus. 

As years rolled on, and experiences ripened and 
character mellowed, and influence strengthened, 
his field of usefulness was continually enlarged. 
The church came to look upon him as a leader 
and guide. In 1861, he was made Moderator of 
the General Assembly. He was a member of 
most of the Boards of the Church, and as a 
director for many years of Princeton Seminary, 
his services were invaluable. His voice was po- 
tential in all the courts of the Church and in all 
its agencies for spreading the gospel throughout 
our own land. Full of years and of honors and 
in the full noon of his influence, as it seemed to 
us, amidst the tears of the people he had loved 
and served so long and so well, the pastoral rela- 
tion was dissolved December, 1875, and he was 
made pastor emeritus. Release from pastoral 



EIGHTY YEARS. 23 

cares brought no release from labor which was 
still abundant. How beautiful was the evening 
of his life, how glorious the sunset splendor 
which gathered around him, how calmly he fell 
asleep in Jesus on the night of the 8th of April, 
1884: 

" He died as sets the morning star which goes 
Not down behind the darkened West nor hides 
Obscured amidst the tempests of the sky, 
But mehs away into the light of heaven." 

In the character and life of Dr. Backus there 
was a striking unity. His character was well 
rounded, symmetrical and complete, with no daz- 
zling qualities or distracting protuberances. All 
its parts were exquisitely proportioned and 
blended into a structure harmonious as the dome 
of St. Peter's or the statue of Michael Angelo. 
His life, too, was one, — not broken up into shreds 
and fragments, and flung around here a little 
and there a little. It was passed in one place, de- 
voted to one work, and that a great work. Upon 
the foundations he laid he built, the works he 
commenced he carried on, the influence he ac- 
quired he used. The blessings of the fathers 
came back upon himself and upon his work in 
redoubled blessings from children and children's 
children. And never was his influence so potent 
nor his labors so fruitful as in his last days, 
around which the halo of a consecrated life 



24 EIGHTY YEARS. 

gathered. How unlike the broken^ fragmentary 
life of the peripatetic ministry of these last days ! 

He was, to an extent seldom equaled, unself- 
ish. As most here knew him, he seemed to have 
risen above all sense of personal interest or ag- 
grandizement, above all feeling of vanity or 
pride or rivalry or personal ambition. Tried 
often and in many ways, from his very eminence a 
shining mark for the archers, the arrows of envy, 
malice and detraction fell blunted and harmless 
at his feet. If he grieved, it was not for himself, 
but for the cause which suffered. We say it de- 
liberately, seldom has mortal man lived with 
such utter f orgetfulness of self and such a single 
eye to his Master's glory. 

He was preeminently a man of faith and of 
prayer. He walked with God. He believed 
God. He saw God as the pure in heart see him. 
He saw heaven and the eternal things with the 
faith which is the substance of things hoped for, 
and the evidence of things not seen. His closet 
was to him the very audience chamber of the 
great King. He Avas accustomed to set apart 
frequent seasons of special prayer for his own 
soul in the crises of his spiritual history, for his 
church, for the Church at large, for individuals. 
With absent friends he often fixed a certain time 
in the day when they would meet in the spirit. 
Sometimes in his darkened study you would find 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 25 

him alone ; it was his hour of special prayer. 
The morning after the loss of a dear child, I 
found him alone in his darkened study. " All 
through the sleepless night,'- said he, " I seemed 
to be lifted above my sorrow. The Lord was so 
near and my visions of him and his kingdom 
were so transporting, that I seemed all tlie night 
long to be with him on another Mount of Trans- 
figuration," — then passed at once to talk of the 
work so near his heart. And in that life of faith 
and prayer he found inspiration, guidance and 
strength for his work. 

DE. JAMES T. LEFTWICH. 

Dr. Backus was succeeded by the Eev. Dr. 
James Turner Leftwich, who Avas installed Oc- 
tober 28th, 1879. Dr. Leftwich was born in 
Bedford, Va., Januar}^ 3d, 1835. His literary 
education was procured partly at Princeton and 
Yale colleges, and his theological education, at 
Union Seminary, New York. From the semi- 
nary he was called to the pastorate of the church 
in Alexandria, Va., and after serving it for some 
years became pastor of the church in Atlanta, 
Ga., from which he was Called to Baltimore, 
which he served until the pastoral relation was 
dissolved February, 1893. 

For almost five years Dr. Leftwich had the 
priceless privilege of the most intimate com- 



26 EIGHTY YEARS. 

panionsliip with Dr. Backus. Delicate as their 
relations were between two spirits of such mag- 
nanimity there could be nothing but the most 
hearty confidence and warmest Christian affec- 
tion. Dr. Leftwich was preeminently a theolo- 
gian and regarded it as his special work to 
strengthen the foundations upon which the 
Church, with all its institutions and activities, 
could alone securely stand. He labored to un- 
fold the system of truth and vindicate the polity 
of the church he loved, and fasten both firmly 
upon the impregnable rock of the Word. I think 
Dr. Leftwich had one of the greatest, if not 
the greatest mind in the Presbyterian Church, 
and early as was his taking off, his brethren had 
come to appreciate his greatness. 

Before he was generally known in the Church 
at large, a most important committee on the re- 
vision of the Constitution and method of amend- 
ing it was ordered by the General Assembly. 
As I happened to be Moderator of the Assembly 
at the time, I placed Dr. Leftwich on the com- 
mittee. The brethren came to me one after an- 
other and asked, " Who is Dr. Leftwich ? We 
want our best men on this important com- 
mittee." But when its work was done, and his 
share in it was known, no one after that asked, 
Who is Dr. Leftwich ? When the committee on 
the revision of the Confession, to which this 



EIGHTY YEARS. 27 

looked forward, was appointed, Dr. Leftwich, by 
common consent, was made a member of it. 
And it is the testimony of those who were asso- 
ciated with him that no counsels were listened to 
with more interest and profit than his. His 
mind was cast in the Westminster mold. It 
was clear, logical, impatient of all mist and in- 
directions and compromises, piercing through all 
the disguises of error, seeking the truth, the 
whole truth and nothing but the truth, and 
when grasped, holding it with a conviction which 
nothing could shake. He was eloquent, at times 
surpassingly eloquent, for he had an imperial im- 
agination, a rainbow-tinted fancy, the most ex- 
quisite sensibilities, the most ardent affection, 
the most polished speech, the rhythm of his sen- 
tences always falling upon the ear as the sweet- 
est music. But his eloquence was always the 
eloquence of truth, winged by imagination, in- 
stinct with celestial fire, indeed, but always the 
truth. His supreme concern was with those 
great foundation truths upon which the Church 
is built — the doctrine of God, Father, Son, Spirit, 
the Sovereignty of God, his immutable and 
eternal decrees, his absolute justice and his 
boundless love, the depravity of man — a deprav- 
ity universal as to the race and total as to the 
individual, the necessity of the new birth, the 
Atonement, the cross and blood-shedding of 



28 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Christ, not his life only, not his teachings only, 
not his example only, but his Blood, his sacri- 
fice for sin, as the great cardinal truth of the 
gospel, and the only hope of salvation of the 
lost. These great doctrines he believed were 
necessary to the very existence of the Church of 
God, and were to be the animating spirit of all 
its activities. If banished from the pulpit or re- 
tired to the background, if appeals and appliances 
from other quarters were substituted in their 
place, he believed that all would be lost. It was 
his special mission to vindicate these doctrines of 
grace as the source of light, inspiration and ac- 
tivity in the Church of God. 

He came here in the midst of his years and in 
the full noon of his powers, but scarcely had he 
entered upon his work till that fatal and slow 
wasting malady, which consumed his life, fell 
upon him. Seldom has a martyr at the stake 
endured such tortures in every quivering nerve, 
and seldom has martyr endured his tortures with 
greater heroism. How often we have seen him 
when racked with pain, tottering on his staff 
from door to door on his errands of mercy. How 
often he ascended the pulpit when every nerve 
was crying out with anguish. Ever as we looked 
upon him we saw the handwriting of death upon 
his countenance. For weeks he was at the Johns 
Hopkins Hospital in this city. It was the privi- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 29 

lege of many to stand by his sick bed and 
listen to his inspiring words of faith and hope. 
How calmly, hopefully, joj^fuUy he leaned upon 
his Saviour's bosom ! Once I visited him, when 
tortured with pain, he looked up from his bed of 
suffering and said, " It is all right, brother, it is 
all right." When at last he was called to pass 
through the valley of the death shade, he entered 
it singing the old psalm of faith and victory for 
the rod and staff of the Good Shepherd upheld 
and comforted with tokens of his presence and 
visions of the goodly land beyond. 

DR. J. WITHERSPOOlSr. 

Unable to serve the church longer from failing 
health, Dr. Lef twich resigned his charge in Febru- 
ary, 1893, and was succeeded by Dr. Jere Wither- 
spoon, December 2tl:th, 1893. Dr. Witherspoon is 
a native of Virginia. When called to Baltimore 
he was pastor of the First Church of Nashville, 
Tenn., one of the largest and most influential 
churches in the state. Dr. Witherspoon had been 
eminently successful as a pastor in Nashville, 
and the thoughts of the First Church had early 
turned to him as the successor of Dr. Leftwich. 
Letters of commendation were received from 
many quarters and a committee of the church 
visited jSTashville, heard him preach, and saw his 
work, and Dr. Witherspoon was elected pastor. 



30 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

His sweetness of spirit and warmth of sym- 
pathy and gentleness, and grace of manner won 
for him universal esteem and the warm affection 
of his brethren in the ministry, who testified to it 
in many Avays. In IS&T, he received a call from 
a church in Richmond, Ya., which he felt it his 
duty to accept, and the pastoral relation was dis- 
solved. The church is now vacant. 

The present officers of the church are William 
W. Spence, Dr. Eussell Murdoch, Elisha H. Per- 
kins, Edmund F. Witmer, John Y. L. Graham. 
Deacons, George W. Eodgers, William Reynolds, 
J. Frank Bailey, George Leiper Carey, William 
H. Dix, George K. Witmer, Douglas M. Wylie. 
The trustees, pastor president ex-offlcio, Richard 
D. Fisher, Charles J. Appold, Dr. J. J. Chisolm, 
John Y. L. Findlay, Albert Fahnestock, Robert 
M. Wylie, John McKim, John M. Hood, Harry 
F. Reid, Oscar F. Breese. 

SECOI^D CHURCH. 

The second congregation was founded in 1802. 
At a meeting of the First Church, to elect a suc- 
cessor to Dr. Allison, Dr. Glendy and Dr. Inglis 
were the candidates. Dr. Inglis was elected by 
a small majority and the friends of Dr. Glendy 
resolved to withdraw, form a second congrega- 
tion, and invite Dr. Glendy as their minister. 
They began at once the erection of a church on 



EIGHTY YEARS. 31 

the corner of East Baltimore and Lloyd Streets, 
which was completed in 1805. In the Telegraph 
and Daily Advertiser of November 17, 1804, ap- 
peared the advertisement of a lottery to be drawn 
on the September following for the benefit of 
the Second Presbyterian Church then building. 
The lottery was draAvn and yielded the sum of 
$8,090.00. The church was a large rectangular 
brick building, its massive walls, without tower 
or entablature or ornamentation of any kind, 
its spacious interior with wide, cold brick-paved 
aisles, high, straight-backed, torturing pews, ob- 
trusive galleries, narrow tub pulpit, overhung 
with an umbrella-shaped sounding-board. For 
half a century it was one of the most conspicuous 
landmarks in East Baltimore, until taken down 
in 1851. The Second Church had no infancy of 
immaturity and struggling. It was strong from 
the beginning, in numbers, wealth and social in- 
fluence. In 1804, articles in the form of a consti- 
tution, were adopted for the government of the 
congregation under which a committee of thir- 
teen was chosen to administer its affairs. As in 
the First Church this committee was the only 
official body, and were elders, deacons and trus- 
tees in one. Their names were James Breese, 
Thomas McElderry, Thomas Dickson, John Mc- 
Kim, Jr., James Armstrong, John Hollins, James 
Slicer, Joseph Spear, Henry Payson, Kennedy 



32 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Long, John Campbell White, Hugh McCurdy, 
and James Hutton. In 1806, General Smith 
gave a lot of two acres far out on the Bel Air 
road, for a burial lot, which was inclosed by a 
high stone wall. In 1811, the first session was 
elected and ordained as appears from the follow- 
ing minute : " On the last Lord's da}^ in April, 
1811, in strict conformity with the principles and 
discipline of the Presbyterian Church, the unor- 
dained members of the congregation were or- 
dained elders by their stated pastor with the 
unanimous approbation of the said society, viz : 
Alexander Brown, James Sloan, James Beatty, 
William Yance, Eobert Stewart, William Mc- 
Donald, William McConkey, William Camp, John 
Crawford. In 1814, we find the first notice of 
offering for the extension of the kingdom ; $50 
for missions, $50 for the education of a young 
man for the ministry and a collection ordered 
for Princeton Seminary. 

In 1820, a Sunday-school was organized, con- 
sisting of twenty-three teachers and thirteen 
pupils, all females. The instruction was largely 
secular. The teachers were drafted in detach- 
ments until the number of pupils demanded the 
service of all. They met in private rooms, and 
officers and teachers were fined for late attend- 
ance or neglect of duties. Weekly lectures and 
prayer meetings were things unknown. 



:^GIITY YEARS. 33 

PASTORS OF THE SECOND CHURCH. 

Dr. John Glend}'- was installed first pastor in 
April, 1805. He was born in Londonderry, Ire- 
land, June 24th, 1755. He was educated in the 
schools of his native town, and on the completion 
of his theological studies was ordained by the 
Presbytery of Londonderry. He was an ardent 
patriot, after the Irish type, was suspected, per- 
haps justly, of complicity with the great Eebel- 
lion, and after a series of hidings and hairbreadth 
escapes, succeeded in making his way to America. 
Landing in Norfolk, his impassioned eloquence, 
for he shared the genius of his countrymen, 
Phillips and Grattan, and threw the same spell 
over his audience, attracted crowds wherever he 
preached. An Irishman, with all the brilliant 
characteristics of his race, he was at the same 
time a Scotch Presbyterian, adhering to his faith 
with sturdy Cameronian constancy. Courtly in 
his manners, he had access to all social circles, 
even the most exclusive. He became the inti- 
mate friend of President Jefferson, and was a 
frequent guest at the presidential mansion. He 
was chaplain first of the House, and afterwards 
of the Senate of the United States, and w^as the 
confidential friend of many of the leading states- 
men of the day. Until age impaired his facul- 
ties, the pulpit of the Second Church was a 
mighty power in Baltimore. 



34 EIGHTY YEARS. 

DR. JOHN BRECKIlSrRIDGE. 

In 1825, when Dr. Glendy was seventy years 
of age, the church, at his request, resolved to se- 
cure an assistant pastor. Dr. John Breckinridge 
was elected and installed July 10th, 1826. He 
was the second of the four illustrious sons of the 
Honorable John Breckinridge, one of the first 
United States senators from Kentucky, and at 
the time of his death, Attorney-General of the 
United States. Dr. Breckinridge was born at 
Cabell's Dale, near Lexington, Ky., 4th of July, 
1797. He was graduated at Princeton College 
in 1818, and at the theological seminary in 1822. 
He was licensed the same year by the Presbytery 
of 'New Brunswick, was for a short time chaplain 
of the United States House of Eepresentatives, 
became pastor of the McCord Church, Lexington, 
Ky., from Avhich he was called to the Second 
Church. 

Ardent, enthusiastic and eloquent, with sym- 
pathies as wide as the world, always prepared 
on every question concerning the good of man 
or the glory of God, always fluent and eloquent, 
every good cause called to him for help and sel- 
dom called in vain. Unmatched upon the plat- 
form, all our great institutions then weak and 
struggling into existence, looked to him as their 
champion. Of kindred spirit with Dr. Nevins, 
and laboring side by side with him in gathering 



EIGHTY YEAES. 35 

in the harvest of souls, his influence in the com- 
munity was large and commanding. Few pas- 
torh have ever been so loved and the parting 
with his people was a repetition of the scene at 
Miletus. 

The condition of the Second Church was de- 
plorable. There were no prayer meetings, and 
not a single person in the church would lead in 
prayer; and there was scarce a sign or move- 
ment of spiritual life. The congregation was 
vexed by internal strifes and protracted con- 
troversies w4th the senior pastor. Dr. Breckin- 
ridge labored unweariedly to heal these strifes 
and elevate the tone of spirituality. The Sunday- 
school was greatly enlarged and spiritualized. 
He taught a Bible class of some forty young men 
w^hich furnished some of the most useful and 
well-known members and elders of our Church. 
He was a benediction, not to the church alone, 
but to the entire city. 

DE. E. J. BEECKIIS^EIDGE. 

Worn out by incessant labors he was succeeded 
by his still more illustrious brother, Dr. Robert 
J. Breckinridge, who was ordained and installed 
November 26th, 1832. Dr. Robert Jefferson 
Breckinridge w^as born at Cabell's Dale, Ky., 
March 8th, 1800, was graduated at Union Col- 
lege, New York, in 1819, and admitted to the bar 



36 EIGHTY YEARS. 

in Lexington in 1824. In 1825 he was elected a 
member of the Lower House of the Kentucky 
legislature and was reelected for three successive 
terms. In the winter of 1828-9 he was con- 
verted and united with the McCord Church and 
retired from the practice of the law and from 
public life. The duty of entering the ministry 
was pressed upon him by his friends, and by his 
conscience, but there were scruples and difficul- 
ties in the way. It was not till the great woods 
meeting on his own farm, in 1831, one of those 
large Pentecostal meetings then so frequent in 
the west, that his difficulties were resolved and 
his duty was made clear. He put himself under 
the care of the West Lexington Presbytery, and 
six months after was licensed to preach. As an 
elder he was a member of the General Assembly 
of 1832, and from the Assembly went to Prince- 
ton to prosecute his theological studies, but had 
scarcely entered the seminary till he was called 
to the pastorate of the Second Church. 

Dr. Breckinridge was endowed as God seldom 
endows a mortal, with the choicest gifts of na- 
ture and providence, strength of intellect, bril- 
liancy of imagination and breadth of culture. 
He was a statesman, a theologian, a lawyer, a 
preacher, a polemic, an evangelist, and preemi- 
nent in all. On the very threshold of his minis- 
try the burden of souls was laid upon his heart, 



EIGHTY YEARS. 37 

and in the winter of 1833, he commenced a series 
of meetings in the Second Church. Night after 
night, he preached with the fervor of a Whitfield 
and the Second Church rejoiced in the fruitage 
of a glorious revival. With heart of love and 
tongue of flame, his call and his anointing seemed 
to be those of a great evangelist, — an Edwards, 
a Davies or a Whitfield. But another kind of 
work awaited him. The church was trembling 
under the first shock of that earthquake which 
finally rent it asunder. At a meeting of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, when all counsels were brought 
to naught and breathless silence had fallen on 
the body, a young man arose in a remote part of 
the house, pale with sickness and grasping the 
pew before him for support. He was a young 
lawyer, well-known at the bar and at the plat- 
form in Kentucky, but almost an entire stranger to 
the Assembly. Almost from the first sentence he 
uttered the body hung upon his lips and from that 
hour through all the stormy scenes that followed, 
Dr. Breckinridge became a leader and a cham- 
pion. Preeminently the servant of the church, 
he was at the same time the servant of his gener- 
ation. On all the great questions of the age, so- 
cial, educational, political, his trumpet voice 
sounded out loudly and commandingly. 

To the world he is known chiefly as the great 
polemic, a knight panoplied and plumed, with 



38 ' EIGHTY YEARS. 

lance always at rest, rushing to the fray as to a 
banquet. To those who knew the man, he was 
genial and gentle as a child, the most charming 
of companions, the most loyal and loving of 
friends. It was my privilege to spend a winter 
in his house at his table. I think no table talk 
could have excelled his. His knowledge of men 
and things was large. His w4t, his pathos, his 
genial humor, his fund of anecdote, his intuition 
of great truths, his marvelous versatility, turning 
at once from the most abstruse discussion to the 
most sportive fancies, made an hour at his table 
the memory of a lifetime. Positive in his con- 
victions, imperial in his temper, impatient of all 
tamperings and compromising, always in every 
controversy going in for a clear victory or a 
clear defeat. Few adversaries were more feared 
and maligned ; few friends more trusted and 
loved. A high church Presbyterian, advocating 
some lines of policy which have been rejected as 
extreme, the Church he loved so well if true to 
itself, will always enshrine the name of Dr. P. J. 
Breckinridge. In 1845 Dr. Breckinridge was 
elected president of Jefferson College, and having 
expressed his desire to accept the position, the 
pastoral relation was dissolved. Dr. James H. 
Thornwell and D. M. Palmer, both of South 
Carolina, were both elected to the vacant 
pastorate, but both declined. Dr. Lewis W. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 39 

Green, having accepted the election, was in- 
stalled in February, 1846. 

DR. LEWIS W. GREEIS". 

Dr. Lewis W. Green was born in Boyle County, 
Ky., January 28th, 1806, was graduated at 
Center College, completed his studies at Prince- 
ton in 1832, was licensed by the Presbytery of 
Transylvania, spent two years as professor in 
Center College and two years abroad among the 
universities and libraries of Europe, adding to the 
wealth of learning he had already acquired. On 
his return he was elected vice-president of Center 
College, of which the celebrated Dr. John C. 
Young was then president. Soon after, he was 
chosen by the General Assembly to the chair of 
Hebrew and Oriental literature in the Western 
Theological Seminary. Dr. Green was eminent 
as a scholar and educator ; genial and courteous, 
full of information and anecdote he was a most 
delightful companion. His sermons were elab- 
orate and ornate, abounding in classical allusions, 
and lit up by flashes of eloquence. 

Dr. Green entered upon his duties as pastor of 
the Second Church with characteristic zeal and 
energy. But the burden of pastoral cares and 
pastoral labors pressed too heavily upon him. 
His health began to fail, and in October, 1848, at 
his own request, the pastoral relation was dis- 



40 EIGHTY YEARS. 

solved and he accepted the position of president 
of Hampton Sidney College, to which he had 
been elected. 

DR. JOSEPH T. SMITH. 

Dr. Green was succeeded by Dr. Joseph T. 
Smith, who was installed in April, 1849. Dr. 
Smith was born in Mercer, Pa., on the 6th of 
November, 1818, Avas graduated at Jefferson 
College in 1837, studied theology under the 
direction of the Eev. Samuel Tate, the apostle of 
Northwestern Pennsylvania, was licensed b}" the 
Presbytery of Erie in 1841, and ordained and 
installed pastor of his native church in Mercer, 
in April, 1842. 

Born and reared in Western Pennsvlvania, 
where almost the entire population were Presby- 
terians of the straightest Cameronian type, and 
having little knowledge of any other religious 
bodies save what he read in controversial books, 
he grew up with a sort of ill-defined feeling that 
the Presbyterian Church was the Church, and all 
outside of it were but inheritors of uncovenanted 
blessings. In this state of mind he received a 
letter from the Second Presbyterian Church of 
Baltimore, then vacant, saying that he had been 
recommended to them as a pastor by the Rev. 
Dr. Johns, rector of an Episcopal church in Balti- 
more, and inviting him to visit them. He was 



EIGHTY YEARS. 41 

surprised that such an invitation should come to 
him and amazed that it should come from an 
Episcopalian. After visiting the Second Church, 
and seeing its condition, the call was declined. 
He returned to Mercer and regarded himself as 
permanently settled there. Among the letters 
received urging him to reconsider his decision 
was one from the Rev. Dr. Johns, breathing in 
every line the spirit of brotherly love. He keeps 
that letter among his most precious treasures. 
After stating and urging at length the reasons 
which ought to induce him to come to Baltimore, 
Dr. Johns closed his letter in these words : " You 
may think it strange that one of another denom- 
ination of Christians should so write. But while 
I could wish that you and all my brethren were 
even as I am, yet I rejoice that in every way 
Christ is preached and souls brought home to 
God." That letter, more than anything else, 
induced Dr. Smith to come to Baltimore. From 
the day of his arrival Dr. Johns became one of 
his most intimate counselors and friends, and 
when amidst the lamentations of the entire city 
he was carried to his burial it was the privilege 
of Dr. Smith to preach his funeral sermon to an 
immense congregation, composed of ministers and 
members of all denominations where for the time 
all their differences were lost in the common 
brotherhood of Christians. From his associa- 



42 EIGHTY YEARS. 

tions with Dr. Johns and afterwards with Dr. 
Grammar and Dr. Leakin and others of kindred 
spirit his charity was so enlarged as to admit 
Episcopalians to share the covenanted blessings 
with Presbyterians. 

Dr. John M. Duncan, an illustrious and vener- 
able man, was then pastor of the Associate Ee- 
formed Church on Fayette Street, one of the larg- 
est and most influential churches in the city. 
He was a great man and a great preacher, of 
largeness of heart like that which God gave to 
his servant of old, but he was accused of holding 
erroneous opinions, and had withdrawn from the 
Presbyterian Church. Dr. Smith regarded his 
errors as touching such vital points that the 
thought of brotherly fellowship with him scarcely 
entered his mind. On his arrival in Baltimore 
Dr. Duncan was one of the first ministers of the 
city to call upon him. He called again and 
again, and no father could have been more tender 
and more solicitous for the welfare of a son, 
young, inexperienced and unacquainted with city 
ways. The infirmities of age had come upon 
Dr. Duncan, and he desired Dr. Smith to become 
his assistant. Almost every day for a time he 
came to the study of Dr. Smith, brought his 
books and his published sermons, explained and 
defended his peculiar views, but assured the 
Doctor he could preach to his people without re- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 43 

straint for they would bear everything except 
Calvinism. And yet despite all his errors and 
idiosyncrasies, whenever he passed from meta- 
physical speculation as to the persons of the God- 
head and their relations to each other, and talked 
of the love of God, and the grace of Christ, and 
the fellowship of the Spirit, none could doubt his 
fellowship with Christ. 

Mr. Thomas Kelso was a Methodist. His wife 
was a Presbyterian and a member of the Second 
Church. Their hospitable home in East Balti- 
more was always open and seldom without 
guests chiefly and indiscriminately Presbyterians 
and Methodists. Here Dr. Smith was thrown 
into fraternal fellowship with many of the emi- 
nent ministers of the time. Bishop Waugh, who 
invited him to join in his ordination of ministers, 
the elders Edwards, Slicer, Sewell, and many an 
honored name besides. Amidst associations such 
as these his old prejudices gradually melted away 
and he came at last not in word only, but in deed 
and in truth, to recognize all churches as branches 
of the one Church. During his whole ministry in 
Baltimore it was his pleasure to enjoy Christian 
fellowship and fraternal intercourse with brethren 
of the different churches around him. 

When he came to Baltimore, there were eight 
Presbyterian churches in Baltimore, the First, 
Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Aisquith Street, 



44 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Broa(i^YaJ and Franklin Street. Their pastors 
were, Drs. Backus, Musgrave, Purviance, Ham- 
ner, Diinlap, Peck, and Plumer. To come 
from his lonely country home, into such a fellow- 
ship as this was like translation into another 
world, of higher companionships and nobler in- 
spirations. 

The condition of the Second Church in 1849 
was in many ways discouraging. It had been 
greatly reduced in numbers and resources and 
Yexed by internal dissensions, its strength so 
weakened in the way, that the faint-hearted be- 
gan to fear for its Yery existence. The old 
church had become incommodious for present 
needs and unattractiYe to present tastes, and 
soon after the installation of the new pastor the 
question of the renoYation of the old building or 
the erection of a new one began to be agitated, 
with the excitements and oppositions which any 
proposal of the kind always occasions. Against 
the open opposition of some, and the half-hearted 
consent of others, and these unfortunately the 
wealthier members, it was resolved at last to take 
down the old building and erect a new one on 
the same site. It Y^as a formidable undertaking 
under the existing conditions, but the trustees at 
the time Y^ere a noble company. The heart 
throbs as Y^e record their names, for they are all 
now passed over to the other side. James Mai- 



EIGHTY YEAES. 45 

com, James McConkej^, Robert Howard, Horace 
and Edwin Abbott, William Crichton, Samuel 
Fenby ; they devoted themselves to the enter- 
prise with rare wisdom and w^hole-hearted zeal. 
The building was completed and opened for 
public worship in 1852, the congregation mean- 
w^hile worshiping in Temperance Temple on Gay 
Street. During the first three years some sixty 
families were added and the continuance of the 
church seemed assured. Under their own burden 
while heaviest, a mission school was opened in 
the basement of a room near the penitentiary, 
and largely through the unwearied exertions of 
Mr. B. F. Haynes, a member of the church, the 
Breckinridge Chapel was erected. 

The General Assembly of 1860 elected Dr. 
Smith professor of ecclesiastical history and 
church government in the Danville Theological 
Seminary, into which two former Baltimore 
pastors had already gone, Drs. R. J. Breckinridge 
and Stuart Eobinson, and the pastoral relation 
w^as dissolved in 1860. 

DR. GEORGE P. HAYES. 

Dr. George Price Hayes was installed sixth 
pastor in March, 1861. Dr. Hayes w^as the 
fourth son of John Haj^es, and Orpha Hayes, 
and was born near Canonsburg, Pa., February 
2d, 1838, was graduated at Jefferson College, 



46 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

studied theology in the Western Theological 
Seminary, was licensed by the Presbytery of 
Pittsburg, in April, 1859, and became assistant 
pastor with Dr. Painter, in Kittanning, Pa. Dr. 
Hayes came to the Second Church at the begin- 
ning of the troublous times of the Civil War. 
Though strong in his convictions and faithful to 
his convictions, he bore himself so wisely and 
charitably to all of contrary opinions that the 
church came through the storm, not indeed 
without injury, but without wreck. The church 
not only survived, but a brighter day began to 
dawn upon it. In the fall of 1868, Dr. Hayes 
accepted the position of the financial secretary of 
Wooster University, and the pastoral relation 
was dissolved. 

DR. JOITATHAlSr EDWAEDS. 

Dr. Hayes was succeeded by Dr. Jonathan 
Edwards. Dr. Edwards was eminent as a 
scholar, a theologian, an educator and college 
president. Soon after his settlement difficulties 
and embarrassments arose with which he felt 
himself unwilling to contend, and after a short 
time when the brethren had scarcely come to 
know him, and the church had scarcely begun to 
feel his influence, the pastoral relation was dis- 
solved. 



EIGHTY YEAES. 47 

DR. ROBERT H. FULTON". 

Dr. Edwards Avas succeeded by Dr. Eobert H. 
Fulton who was installed in 1872. He was born 
in Monongahela City, Pa., was graduated with 
honor in the first class of the united colleges of 
Washington and Jefferson in 1866, studied 
theology in the Western Seminary and was 
licensed in 1871. Dr. Fulton was an instructive 
preacher, faithful and laborious in all depart- 
ments of pastoral duty. He was eminent as a 
presbyter, and a most valued member of all 
church courts. Under his faithful ministry the 
church was greatly strengthened and blessed. 
In May, 1883, having accepted a call to the 
Northminster Church in Philadelphia, his pas- 
toral relation was dissolved. 

DR. ALEXANDER PROUDFIT. 

Dr. Fulton was succeeded by Dr. Alexander 
Proudfit. He was born in New York City, 
April 16th, 1839, was graduated at Eutgers Col- 
lege, 1859, studied theology in New Brunswick 
and Princeton Seminaries, and was ordained an 
evangelist by the Presbytery of New York. He 
was pastor of the church in Clayton, and after- 
wards in Hackensack, N. J., whence he was called 
to the Second Church. 

Dr. Proudfit was abundant and indefatigable 
in labors, and gave himself largely to furthering 



48 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

the interests of the multiplied societies and insti- 
tutes which he thought helpful to the church. 
He introduced the Christian Endeavor Society, 
and was earnest in advocating its claims. He 
possessed rare administrative gifts and was ever 
devising something for the suppression of im- 
moralities, and the advancement of righteousness 
and peace. He was in many ways a benefactor 
to the church and to the city. Having accepted 
a call to a church in Ohio, the pastoral relation 
was dissolved. 



EEV. EOBEET HOWAED TAYLOE. 

Dr. Proudfit was succeeded by the Rev. Rob- 
ert Howard Taylor, the present pastor. He is a 
native of Philadelphia, educated at Princeton, 
and came directly from the seminary to the 
church. He is a young man, ardent in zeal, 
abundant in labors, and the church is blessed un- 
der his ministrj". The church building has been 
renovated, the old parsonage on the corner of 
Watson Street, was taken down and a large 
building erected in its place containing a lecture 
room, Sunday-school room, ladies' parlor, Bible- 
class room, and all needful appliances for carry- 
ing on an enlarged work. The Sunday-school is 
large and flourishing, and is indeed the nursery 
of the church. 



EIGHTY YEAES. 49 

The present oflBcers are: Pastor, Rev. R. 
Howard Taylor ; elders, Robert. H. Smith, John 
Abercrombie, John McKenzie, Robert J. Kane, 
Harry G. Evans, Frank R. Haynes. 

THIRD CHURCH. 

In 1823, twenty years after the founding of 
the Second Church the Third Church was organ- 
ized. It grew out of the mission established near 
Crook's factory. It was feeble from the begin- 
ning and had a long struggle for existence. A 
small and incommodious building was finally 
erected on ISTorth Eutaw Street. 

DR. GEOEGE W, MTTSGRAVE, 

Dr. George W. Musgrave was installed pastor 
in July, 1830. 

Dr. Musgrave was born in Philadelphia, Oc- 
tober 19th, 1804. He was educated at the Clas- 
sical Academy of the Rev, S. B. Wiley, studied 
theology at Princeton, wa^ licensed by the Pres- 
bytery of Baltimore in 1828, and was ordained 
and installed in July, 1830. 

He was a laborious student and a most in- 
structive preacher. He told me on one occasion 
that it was his custom at the beginning of the 
year to go through his Bible and mark the texts 
on which he would preach through the year, ar- 
ranging them with reference to times, and espe- 



50 EIGHTY YEAES. 

cially sacramental seasons. Every day he would 
write a brief analysis and exposition of one of 
these texts, then he would select one of these 
and expand it into a weekly lecture. This in 
turn he would draw out into a sermon. Every 
week he wrote at least one sermon whether he 
preached it or not, and at the time of our con- 
versation he said he had a large number of ser- 
mons he had never preached. His presence was 
commanding, and this, with his sonorous voice, 
would compel the attention of any assembl}^. 
He was a great debater and a controversialist, 
by taste as well as conviction. He took an ac- 
tive and influential part in all the exciting con- 
troversies of his time. Few cared to meet him 
in the arena and the debates between him and 
Dr. R. Breckinridge, well matched antagonists, 
in the Presbytery of Baltimore were intellectual 
feasts to those who heard them. Having been 
elected secretary of the Presbyterian Board of 
Publication in 1852, the pastoral relation was 
dissolved. 

DR. THEODIC PRIOE, 

An eminent minister of Virginia, was the suc- 
cessor of Dr. Musgrave. His ministry scarcely 
lasted a year when he felt it his duty to return 
to Virginia and the pastoral relation was dis- 
solved. 



EIGHTY YEAES. 51 

EEY. GEIFFITII OWEIT. 

Dr. Prior was succeeded by the Eev. Griffith 
Owen who served the church from 1855 to 1860. 
A native of AYales, he was graduated in Jeffer- 
son College in 1836, studied theology at Prince- 
ton, became pastor of a church in Philadelphia, 
and afterwards in Uniontown, Pa. He was 
widely known and respected in Baltimore for his 
warm heart, his arduous labors and his supreme 
devotion. After years of struggling the church 
was finally dissolved and its remaining members 
attached to the Central Church in 1862. 

FOUETH CHUECH. 
The Fourth Church was located on West Balti- 
more Street, near Fremont, in 1839. It was a 
small, brick building and the church was feeble 
from the beginning. 

EEY. GEOEGE DUGAIS^ PUEYIANCE. 

The Eev. George Dugan Purviance was or- 
dained and installed as the first pastor by the Pres- 
bytery of Baltimore in 1839. He was the son 
of the eminent Judge Purviance and the brother 
of Miss Margaret Purviance. He was graduated 
at St. Mary's College at Baltimore and had his 
theological training at Princeton. He preached 
the gospel in its simplicity and power, and w^as 
beloved by his brethren and by all who knew 



52 EIGHTY YEAES. 

him. He served the church with zeal and fidel- 
ity till feeble health required his resignation in 

1855. 

DR. JACOB AMOS LEFEVER. 

Dr. Lefever succeeded Mr. Purviance in 1856. 
He is a native of Pennsylvania, was graduated 
in Pennsylvania College in 1851 and was or- 
dained by the Presbytery of Baltimore, October 
26th, 1856. He is with us till this day, vigorous 
in mind, and preaching with his old power. He 
is a student and a theologian, positive in his 
convictions, but genial and loving in his spirit. 
Under Dr. Lefever a new church building was 
erected on Franklin Square and the church is 
now in connection with the Southern General 
Assembly. He was succeeded by the present 
pastor, Eev. Mr. Woods. 

FIFTH CHUKCH. 

In 1835 the Eev. Dr. James G. Hamner, of 
Virginia, Avho had been for some years pastor of 
the church in Frederick, Md., removed to Balti- 
more, procured a room at the corner of Camden 
and Hanover Streets and gathered a congrega- 
tion of earnest fellow-laborers. A church build- 
ing, largely through the liberality of Dr. Hamner 
himself, was erected on Hanover Street. The 
Fifth Cliurch was organized and Dr. Hamner be- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 53 

came its first pastor. He was an earnest, evan- 
gelical preacher with a passion for souls. Nu- 
merous revivals, with large ingatherings occurred 
frequently during his ministry. At the close of 
his pastorate the church was served for a time 
by the Rev. R. S. Hitchcock. It was dissolved 
in 1862 and its remaining members, were attached 
to the Central Church. 

CONSTITUTIONAL CHUECH. 

In the controversies which arose at the time, 
the sympathies of a large number in the Fifth 
Church were with the New School party. These 
withdrew and organized the Constitutional 
Church in connection with the New School As- 
sembly. They erected a large and commodious 
building on South Green Street and called the 
Rev. Dr. Dunning as their pastor. Under his 
able ministry the church flourished for a time, and 
after his dismissal it was served by the Rev. Mr. 
Noyes. On the reunion of the New and Old 
Schools, the Constitutional Church was dissolved 
and members attached to Lafayette Square 
Church. 

AISQUITH STREET CHURCH. 

In 1842 the spirit of church extension had 
fallen upon the First and Second Churches and 
its first fruits appeared in Aisquith Street. In 



54 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ISTovember, 1842, at a joint meeting of the First 
and Second Churches, the field Avas carefully sur- 
veyed and it was determined to erect a new 
church east of the Falls. A lot was secured on 
Aisquith street near Monument, subscriptions 
were opened, and the building was completed in 
1844. In 1880 the old building was exchanged 
for the German Reformed Church lower down the 
street. The Aisquith Street Presbyterian Church 
was organized January 9th, 1844, with forty -seven 
members, mostly members of the First and Sec- 
ond Churches residing in the vicinity. The first 
elders were Isaac Johnson, James Logan, Moses 
Hyde and John Faulkner. The first deacons, 
Francis Davidson, Alexander Hamill and David 
Whitmarsh. 

EEV. ROBERT ^^\ DUNLAP. 

Rev. Robert W. Dunlap was installed pastor 
October 10th, 1844. He was born in South Car- 
olina, August 14th, 181Y, educated at the Univer-. 
sity of North Carolina and ordained an evangel- 
ist by the Presbytery of Georgia, in 1838. He 
supplied for a time the church in St. Augustine, 
Fla., and was pastor of a church in Columbia, 
Pa., from 1841 to 1844. He was an earnest 
preacher and a successful pastor and laid well 
the foundations of the new church, but unhappy 
differences arose in the congregation, and after 



EIGHTY YEARS. 55 

struggling with these for a time the pastoral re- 
lation was at his request dissolved in June, 1850. 
We can do little more than mention the names 
of those who followed in long succession. All 
of them were known to me personally, and as I 
write their names, and as others read them, how 
many tender and sacred memories are revived ! 
The Eev. Thomas Warren was pastor from De- 
cember, 1851, to June, 1853. The Eev. David 
T. Carnahan from May, 1854, to October, 1861. 
Dr. Hamner served the church for some time as 
a stated supply, and through his exertion, and 
largely by his gifts, the ground rent of the prop- 
erty was purchased. The Eev. J. S. Stuchell 
w^as pastor from ]S"ovember, 1862, till February, 
1867. The Eev. James Eamsay from July, 1867, 
to December, 1871. The Eev. James A. Lapsley 
was called, and was waiting for the appointed 
day of installation when he died suddenly. The 
Eev. J. S. Noyes was pastor from May, 1873, to 
June, 1879. The Eev. George D. Buchanan from 
November, 1879, to 1882. The Eev. Silas Daven- 
port from October, 1883, to October, 1888. The 
present pastor is the Eev. Dr. J. Addison Smith, 
who was installed February 18th, 1889. The 
church has suffered greatly from death under his 
ministry. Six of his elders he has followed to 
the tomb. But with his large heart and tireless 
energy and effective preaching, beloved by his 



66 EIGHTY YEAES. 

brethren and honored by his church, Aisquith 
Street stands fast in its lot. The present officers 
are : Rev. J. Addison Smith, D. D,, pastor ; el- 
ders, Eobert Kinnear and David W. Glass. 

BROADWAY CHURCH. 
After the erection of Aisquith Street Church it 
was felt that there was urgent need of a church 
lower down on Fell's Point. The members of 
the Second Church took special interest in the 
enterprise, and to further it, in 1843, the Evan- 
gelical Association, composed of the active young 
men of the church, A. B. Cross, T. E. Baird and 
others, was formed. A lot was procured on the 
corner of Broadway and Gough Streets and the 
building was completed and opened for public 
worship in January, 1846. The church was or- 
ganized in March, 1846, with seventeen members, 
and a congr^ation was incorporated at the same 
time. The following thirteen persons were the 
original trustees : W. H. Conkl'ing, George A. 
Yon Spreckleson, Robert D. Fenby, R. D, Mil- 
holland, William Gardner, Charles Hargesheimer, 
Robert Hutson, James Slater, John A. Robb, 
Robert Ulier, John C. Ely, Peter Fenby and 
E. J. Robb. 

EEV. THOMAS E. PECK. 

Rev. Thomas E. Peck was installed the first 
pastor June 17th, 1846. Dr. Peck was born and 



EIGHTY YEARS. 57 

educated in Columbia, S. C, and licensed to 
preach by the Presbytery of Charleston. He 
was a high church Presbyterian of the Thorn- 
well type. He was a profound theologian, gave 
attendance to reading, and was well instructed 
in the hard points of theology and the five points 
of Calvinism. His discourses were logical, un- 
impassioned, addressed to the understanding of 
his hearers, and were masterpieces of systematic 
teaching. He had little sympathy with many 
of the popular movements of the times, stood al- 
together aloof from voluntary societies of every 
name, and looked with suspicion even upon Sun- 
day-schools as generally conducted. Under such 
a pastorate the foundations of the church were 
laid, if not broad, yet deep and strong. In 1858 
Dr. Peck having signified his desire to accept a 
call to the Central Church the pastoral relation 
was dissolved. 

EEV. F. W. BEAUlSrS. 

Dr. Peck was succeeded by the Eev. Frederick 
W. Brauns, who was installed April 21st, 1859. 
He was a native of Baltimore, acquired his 
classical and theological education at the Luth- 
eran institution at Gettysburg, Pa., was licensed 
by the Lutheran Synod of Maryland, in October, 
1850, and united with the Presbytery of Balti- 
more in 1858. He was a fine scholar, an earnest 



58 EIGHTY YEAES. 

and instructive preacher, and a devoted pastor, 
but his health was feeble and the condition of the 
congregation exacted more labor than he was 
able to bestow. At his own request the pastoral 
relation was dissolved February, 1861. Then 
followed a long vacancy, during which the 
church was on the verge of extinction, its total 
income being reduced to $250. It was sup- 
plied from time to time by the Rev. H. L. 
Singleton, Eev. William H. Cook, Dr. J. G. 
Hamner, and others. Dr. Hamner served the 
church for about two years. His services were 
altogether gratuitous. All that the congregation 
could raise with large contributions from him- 
self were given to the payment of debts. Dr. 
Hamner was such a friend, not to Broadway 
alone, but to many a weak and struggling church 
besides. In 1866, the Presbytery of Baltimore 
pledged itself for a salary of $1,000, the congre- 
gation raising what they could. 

EEV. J. J. COALE. 

Under this action of the Presbytery the Eev. J. 
J. Coale, who was graduated at Princeton Semi- 
nary, was ordained and installed the third pastor 
April 11th, 1867. Under his able ministry the 
congregation began at once to flourish, the mem- 
bership was largely increased, the building reno- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 59 

vated, and in a little time they were able to raise 
the pastor's salary themselves. In March, 1870, 
owing to continued ill health, Mr. Coale asked 
for a dismissal, and against the earnest protest 
of the representatives of the congregation, Mr. 
Alexander McClymont and S. M. Johnson, the 
request w^as granted and the pastoral relation 
dissolved. 

REV. J0H:N^ McCOY. 

The Kev. John McCoy, a graduate of Jeffer- 
son and a student of Princeton, was installed 
fourth pastor January 22d, 1871. He served the 
church faithfully until December, 1872, when, 
at his own request the pastoral relation was 
dissolved. 

REY. JOIliS^ L. FULTOI^. 

In April, 1873, the Eev. John L. Fulton was 
installed the fifth pastor. He received his clas- 
sical and theological education in Monmouth, 111. 
Under his pastorate the church reached the high- 
est degree of prosperity it had yet attained. 
The pastor's salary was raised to $1,600. The 
church was renovated and a parsonage bought, 
largely by members of the First Church. In 
1876, he was dismissed to accept a call from the 
Central Church of Allegheny. 



60 EIGHTY YEARS. 

DR. GEORGE E. JONES. 

The Rev. George E. Jones, D. D., was installed 
November Yth, 1877. He was a graduate of 
Lafayette College and of Princeton Seminary. 
He was licensed by the Presbytery of Lehigh in 
April, 1872, and was for a time pastor of the 
Lower Brandy wine Church, Del. Under the 
pastorate of Dr. Jones the church continued to 
prosper and its financial condition was greatly 
improved. The pastor's salary of $1,600 was 
raised partly by the board and partly by other 
churches of the city. In 1880 Dr. Jones offered 
to release $300 of his salary on condition that the 
congregation would themselves raise the remain- 
ing $1,100. The offer was accepted and the church 
became self-supporting. After protracted debates 
and negotiations it was determined to sell the 
property and rebuild on a lot on East Baltimore 
Street, near the intersection of Broadway. The 
corner stone was laid August 1st, 1887, and the 
church was completed and occupied the following 
year. Dr. Jones was a man of affairs and an in- 
defatigable laborer, and not in his own church 
alone. For many years he was stated clerk of the 
presbytery of Baltimore, and, especially after his 
retirement, the care of all the churches fell largely 
on him. Owing to failing health Dr. Jones was 
compelled to ask for a dismissal and the pastoral 
relation Avas dissolved in December, 1893. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 61 

EEY. W, J. ROWAK. 

Dr. Jones was succeeded by the Rev. William 
J. Eowan, who was ordained and installed June 
17th, 1894. He was born in Philadelphia, was 
graduated at Lafayette College and studied 
theology in Princeton. Broadway was his first 
charge, and under his energetic ministry the 
church is not only holding on its way but reach- 
ing out for larger things. 

The present officers of the church are : Eev. 
William J. Eowan, pastor ; elders, Frank C. 
Loflin, William S. Faust and Joseph M. Hume; 
deacons, James P. Clark, Alexander McKenzie, 
Thomas Moore and William W. Tuckey ; trus- 
tees, William C. Orr, James P. Clark, William 
A. Johnson, E. W. Mansfield, M. D., and William 
S. Faust. 

The following is the statistical report for the 
church for 1898 : 

Communicants, 135 ; Sunday-school members, 
174. Contributions, Home Missions, $94.00 ; For- 
eign Missions, $121.00 ; Education, $5.00 ; Sunday- 
school Work, $17.00; Eelief Fund, $4.00; Freed- 
men, $3.00; Synodical Aid, $11.00; Aid for Col- 
leges, $2.00 ; General Assembly, $12.00 ; Congre- 
gational, $1,779.00, and Miscellaneous, $18.00. 

FEANKLm STEEET CHUECH. 
The need of a church on the western side of 



62 EIGHTY YEAES. 

the city to which population was rapidly tending 
was urgently felt. After careful survey of the 
field it was resolved to build on the corner of 
Franklin and Cathedral Streets. Dr. Backus 
with a large committee from the First Church 
engaged zealously in the enterprise, and a beauti- 
ful Gothic structure in which the congregation 
still worships, was completed and occupied. A 
large colony went out from the First Church and 
Franklin Street was strong from the beginning. 

DR. WILLIAM S. PLUMER. 

Dr. "William Swann Plumer was installed first 
pastor, April 28th, 1847. Dr. Plumer was born 
in Darlington, Beaver County, Pa., July 26th, 
1802. He was graduated at Washington Col- 
lege, Virginia, studied theology at Princeton, and 
was ordained an evangelist in Orange in 1827. 
For nearly three years following he was engaged 
as an evangelist in Southern Virginia and IS'orth 
Carolina. He became pastor successively of the 
church in Briery, Va., Tabb Street Church, 
Petersburg, and the First Church of Eichmond. 

Dr. Plumer was a marked man and filled a 
large space in the eyes of his generation. His 
appearance was most commanding. Upright, 
symmetrical and tall of stature, with an Aaronic 
beard carefully tended and flowing far down on 
his breast ; eyes that alternately sparkled and 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 63 

burned ; a voice sonorous and of marvelous com- 
pass, sometimes thundering like Niagara, some- 
times whispering like the zephyr, sometimes 
screaming like the eagle when he soars toward 
the sun, sometimes cooing like the dove when 
she stoops and flutters over her nest. He was 
often abrupt in manner and quaint in speech, im- 
petuous when wrongfully or wrathfully opposed, 
but gentle and yielding as a child to the reproofs 
and persuasions of his friends. He was a great 
preacher in his happy moods, a great presbyter, 
a great debater, but, above all, he was a man of 
God. 

He walked with God and the secret of the 
Lord was with him. There was not a phase of 
Christian experience through which he had not 
passed nor a question of casuistry which he had 
not debated if not solved in his own soul. The 
condition of sinners as under the curse and con- 
demnation of God's law, conviction of sin, by the 
in working of the Divine Spirit, regeneration and 
conversion in their differences, their varieties, 
and their evidences, growth in grace and meet- 
ness for heaven, — these were the themes on 
which he delighted to talk and to preach. Dr. 
A. Alexander, himself, did not excel him in 
searching the inmost heart of his hearers and 
discriminating a true Christian experience from 
the false. 



64 EIGHTY YEARS. 

On my coming to Baltimore Dr. Plumer became 
my pastor. In all the perplexities of Christian 
life and pastoral work I turned to him for coun- 
sel and guidance, and never surely was spiritual 
guide more sympathetic or more wise. On one 
occasion, when something in the Second Church 
troubled me, and I began to think of leaving, I 
went to his study and told him the story. He 
listened patiently and when I was done, took up 
the Bible from his table and turned to that ex- 
quisite passage in Deuteronomy, "As an eagle 
stirreth up her nest, etc," He read the entire pas- 
sage, expounded it at length, in his peculiar way, 
said not a word about my trouble, but left me to 
infer that sometimes w^hen our nest is too soft 
the Lord stirs it to compel our upward flight, and 
I w^ould better learn the lesson and stay where 
I was. At another time when I told him of 
some spiritual trouble, he listened and without 
alluding to it in any way said, " For days past I 
have been afraid to go out in the street lest I 
should be left to fall into some open sin," then 
went on to speak of his sore spiritual conflicts, 
" fightings w^ithout and fears within," and left me 
to infer, " the same afflictions are accomplished 
in your brethren and are a necessary part of 
your discipline for heaven." One day I met him 
on the street and abruptly, without salutation, 
he said, " Brother Smith, can you preach on the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 65 

love of Christ ? I have often tried to do it, I 
am trying to prepare for it now, but with this 
wretched heart of mine, how can I ? " and then 
with tears in his eyes turned abruptly away. 

A faithful pastor, Dr. Plumer made time to 
devote to other departments of work. He had 
almost a passion for writing short tracts, some- 
times little leaflets of two or three pages. Show- 
ing me the manuscript of one of these, I said to 
him, " Why do you devote so much time to fugitive 
pieces like this ? why not write a book ? " After 
talking of the matter for some time he said he 
would write a book, and commenced at once to 
write the Grace of Christ, the first of the many 
books he published. When the manuscript was 
finished he sent it to me with the message : " Re- 
member, I w^ant you to be perfectly candid in 
your criticism." After reading it carefully, I 
said : " Doctor, there is one peculiarity which 
strikes me unpleasantly. Your sentences seem 
to be detached and largely independent of each 
other, and do not move on together toward a 
common goal." He thought for a while and 
said, "When I sit down to write, while, of 
course, the general subject is before my mind, I 
write down one sentence, and that suggests an- 
other, and that still another, and so I go on to 
the end." There was one beautiful passage 
which addressed itself both to the imagination 



66 EIGHTY YEARS. 

and to the heart. I turned to it and said, " That 
is an exquisite passage." He replied : " Why, I 
was just thinking of striking that out. You know 
I have little imagination/' or as he put it, " I 
cannot say pretty things as others do, and to 
give the necessary variety, I am obliged to resort 
to quotations." All his readers know how his 
books abound in quotations. 

I bless God that I was permitted to know and 
worthy to love two such men as Dr. Plumer 
and Dr. Backus. I bless God for the years 
during which it was my privilege to enjoy 
their companionship and counsels. Dr. Backus 
was a brother with the warm and tender sympa- 
thies of a brother's heart, with whom you could 
talk and take counsel without awe or restraint. 
Dr. Plumer was a father, affectionate and kind, 
but there was a something about him which al- 
ways inspired awe. With him I always felt as 
if in the presence of a superior being, whose 
words of wisdom and counsel were as oracles. 

Under the pastorate of Dr. Plumer the foun- 
dations of Franklin Street were securely laid. 
The church grew in numbers and in influence 
and ever since has maintained its position as one 
of our strongest churches. When in the semi- 
nary at Princeton, Dr. Alexander said to him 
that he ought to prepare himself to be a theolog- 
ical professor and these words influenced his en- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 67 

tire ministry. In the preparation of sermons he 
had the professorship in view, and while in Bal- 
timore wrote out almost a complete course of 
lectures on didactic theology. When elected 
professor in Western Theological Seminary in 
1854, on his expressed desire to accept it, the 
pastoral relation was dissolved. 

Dr. Plumer Avas succeeded by the Eev. N. C. 
Burt of Ohio, who remained but a short time, 
and he, by the Eev. J. J. Bullock, of Kentucky, 
who was pastor during the troublous times of the 
Civil War. In 1870, he was succeeded by the 
Eev. Dr. William U. Mulrkland. 



KEY. DR. W^ILLIAM U. MUIRKLAKD. 

Dr. William IT. Mulrkland was born in British 
Guiana, was graduated at Hampden Sydney, 
studied theology at Union Theological Seminary, 
Virginia, and was ordained at Charlottesville, 
Va., in April, 1869. He has served the Franklin 
Street Church since 1870, and though suffering 
from the attacks of an insidious disease, still 
stands in his lot and ministers to the people he 
has loved and served so well. He is an eloquent 
preacher, a devoted pastor, and many rise up 
around him to call him blessed. Franklin Street 
Church is now in connection with the Southern 
Assembly. 



68 EIGHTY YEARS. 

WESTMINSTER CHUECIL 

AVestminster Church, on the corner of Green 
and Fayette Streets, stands in the midst of God's 
acre, and is surrounded by the monuments and 
memorials of Presbyterian ^Yorthies of many 
generations. The need of a church in that lo- 
cality was felt, and it was desired to protect the 
hallowed spot. At a joint meeting of the officers 
of the First and Franklin Street Churches, it was 
determined to commence the erection of a build- 
ing there. A committee was appointed to raise 
funds, secure the assent of lot holders, and super- 
intend the work. The committee were Dr. J. 
C. Backus, Joseph Taylor, Alexander Murdoch, 
Archibald Stirling, Daniel Holt, W. W. Spence, 
and William B. Canfield, from the First Church, 
and Matthew Clark, John Faulkner, E. H. Per- 
kins, and John Bigham of the Franklin Street 
Church. The building was completed and opened 
July 4th, 1852, by a historical discourse from 
Dr. Backus. The church was organized in July, 
1852, with sixty-one members, and John Faulk- 
ner and John M. Brown as elders. The lecture 
room and Sunday-school room were built in 1857; 
the parsonage was purchased in 1858. 

REV. AVILLIAM J. HOGE. 

The Rev. William J. Iloge was installed first 
pastor August 28th, 1862. He was a child of the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 69 

covenant and inherited from a godly ancestry the 
blessings of the covenant. Left an orphan at an 
early age he secured a liberal education, studied 
theology privately and was licensed in 1850. He 
was popular as a preacher, and his services were 
in great demand. Dr. Hoge's pastorate was 
eminently successful, when to the surprise and 
regret of his people he declared his desire to 
accept a professorship in Union Seminary, Vir- 
ginia, and the pastoral relation was dissolved in 
July, 1856. In 1859, he became collegiate pastor 
with Dr. Spring, of the Brick Church, New York. 
On the breaking out of the war he returned to 
Yirginia, and on the 5 th of July, 1861:, in a 
country home near Petersburg, amidst the boom- 
ing of cannon and the alarms of w^ar, fell asleep 
in Jesus, whispering, — they were his last words, 
— " I die, but 1 live in Jesus for evermore." Like 
Larned and Summerville, and many a noble spirit 
besides, worn out by cares and anxieties and self- 
consuming toil, he died in the early morning of 
his years. 

" So the struck eagle stretched upon the plain, 
No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart.'* 

DR. CYRUS DICKSON. 

Dr. Dickson was installed second pastor No- 
vember 27th, 1856. To him I was bound all 



70 EIGHTY YEARS. 

through life by ties of peculiar intimacy and 
tenderness, and I cannot more fittingly speak of 
him than by reproducing here the words spoken 
at his funeral in Baltimore September lith, 1881. 

We were boys together. We were classmates 
at college. We were settled side by side as 
pastors during the first seven years of our min- 
istry and then, separated for a little while, were 
reunited here. We crossed the Atlantic, traversed 
Europe, climbed the pyramids, stood on the shores 
of the Red Sea, together. I have been a frequent 
inmate of his home since the day he first had a 
home. I have seen his children grow up round 
him and have buried his dead. For half a century 
our lives have run on together side by side. It is 
hard at this solemn moment to bid away these 
throno:ino^ memories, to bid down these throb- 
bing emotions and to speak of him calmly, im- 
personally as the occasion requires. 

Cyrus Dickson was born in the township of 
North East, Erie County, Pa., on the 20th day 
of December, 1816. His childhood was passed 
on the shore of the great lake, and almost within 
hearing of the thunders of Magara. He was 
a child of the covenant, and the descendant of 
a long line of godly ancestry, some of whom 
were princes in Israel. Breathing the atmos- 
phere and surrounded by the hallowed influences 
of a Christian home his earliest and profoundest 



EIGHTY YEARS. 71 

impressions were of the nearness, the reality, the 
transcendent importance of eternal things. How 
fondly he cherished the sacred memories of that 
home and how lasting its impress upon his 
character ! 

Western Pennsylvania was then almost a wil- 
derness. Its first settlers were almost all Pres- 
byterians of the straightest, purest, strongest 
type from Scotland, from northern Ireland, from 
the Cumberland Valley, and the homes of Pres- 
byterianism in the East, but chiefly from Wash- 
ington and the southern counties of the State. 
Dr. McMillan, the John Knox of his age, God 
had raised up and endued with apostolic gifts, 
and sent before as a herald, to prepare his way in 
the wilderness. From his log cottage in Canons- 
burg, the Geneva of the West, there went forth a 
race of ministers, whose like the world has seldom 
seen since apostolic times. Their names, if grow- 
ing dim on earth, are ever growing brighter in 
hea\;en. Their labors, if long since ended on 
earth, still follow them in blessed influences and 
sanctified souls who have never heard their names. 
Tate, Eaton, Johnson, Hughs, Sat ter field, Woods, 
McCurdy, Smith, Marquis, these are the honored 
names of some of these mighty men of old. 
From the banks of the Ohio to the shores of the 
Great Lakes they went everywhere preaching the 
gospel of the kingdom and crying aloud : " Pre- 



72 EIGHTY YEARS. 

pare thee in the desert, the high^^^ay of our God." 
The pulpit was then" what the pulpit, platform 
and press combined are to-day, and their pulpits 
were the mightiest influence in fashioning so- 
ciety. The people were poor in this world's 
goods, but they were preeminently rich in faith. 
Eternal things were not to them myths or 
shadows, or soulless abstractions, but present 
and palpable realities. They saw God, and 
heaven, and hell, as present and real and these 
influenced and controlled their whole lives. 
Religion was their chief business and chief 
theme of conversation. Instead of morning 
papers and magazines and reviews and cheap 
literature of every kind the Bible and the con- 
fession of faith, and Baxter and Doddridge, and 
Bunyan, furnished almost exclusively their read- 
ing. 

Their communion seasons were like the great 
annual festivals of the Jews. They were held in 
groves, God's first temples, for no walls could 
contain the gathering multitude. The services 
were protracted for many days. The people as- 
sembled from many miles round, neighboring 
ministers were called in, preaching from the tent 
was continued, with short intervals, almost the 
entire day ; and far into the night the voice of 
praj^er and praise was heard in their dwellings. 
The Spirit often came down upon them like the 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 73 

rustling wind in the tree tops or the rushing wind 
of Pentecost. The revival services of those times 
were Pentecostal. Most remarkable in their na- 
ture and methods, most lasting in their blessed 
influences, few scenes in the whole history of the 
Church so displayed the power of God's Spirit 
and so magnified the grace of the gospel. It was 
amidst such influences that the childhood of Dr. 
Dickson Avas passed and his Christian character 
formed. The blessed baptism then received left 
its lasting influence on his whole life. 

At the early age of fourteen he joined himself 
publicly to the Lord, and from that hour his pur- 
pose to enter the ministry seems to have been 
fixed. He was graduated at Jefferson College 
in 1837, in the class which embraced the martyr 
missionary Lowry, and gave as the fruit of the 
precious college revival so many ministers to the 
Church. His theological studies were pursued 
under private instructions, for theological semi- 
naries were then in their infancy. 

In June, 1840, he was ordained and installed 
pastor of the united churches of Franklin and 
Sugar Creek, in Venango County, Pa. ; in the 
same year he was married to Miss Delia E. 
McConnell, the helper of his faith, the sharer of 
his labors, the charm of his home, the solace of 
his life for forty years, and a ministering angel 
at his dying bed. 



74 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Franklin, the county seat of Venango County, 
situated at the junction of French Creek and the 
Allegheny River, was then a little village of 
some 400 inhabitants. Sugar Creek, on the 
stream of that name was some seven miles dis- 
tant. The churches in both places were little, 
rough, wooden structures, with naked walls and 
quaking windows, and rude pine pulpits, lit up 
at night by flickering tallow candles. The peo- 
ple were few, scattered, poor, primitive in their 
manners and customs. The salary was $300. 
Those churches were just on the edge of what 
then was almost a wilderness, now the oil region 
of Pennsylvania. The roads were often but 
blind bridle paths, filled with stumps, and in 
places, almost impassable from snags. The 
streams were bridgeless and the crossings of 
French Creek, and Oil Creek and Broken Straw 
were often difficult and sometimes perilous. A 
few feeble churches were erected at long inter- 
vals, and where they were wanting the lordly pine 
or the wide spreading oak, or the rude country 
schoolhouse afforded a sanctuary. The people 
hungered and thirsted for the bread of life, and 
it was the delight of the young pastor, mounted 
on a horse as well known throughout all that 
region as himself, through hunger and cold and 
storm to carry the bread of life to those scattered 
sheep in the wilderness. I often accompanied 



EIGHTY YEARS. 75 

him on what might be called his missionary 
tours, and saw how his coming was always a 
festal time. 

His fame as a preacher began to be noised 
abroad and other and wider fields began to 
solicit him. In 1848, he accepted a call from the 
Second Church of Wheeling, Ya., then just 
organized. Upon his new field he entered with 
characteristic ardor. The church grew in num- 
bers and influence, and became under his pastor- 
ate, one of the largest and most influential for 
good in the Presbytery. But a still wider field 
was open, and in November, 1856, he became the 
pastor of the Westminster Church, Baltimore. 
From the very beginning of his ministry in Bal- 
timore an unusual blessing attended him. Dur- 
ing the first two years there was an almost con- 
tinual revival and the people of God were quick- 
ened and a precious harvest of souls was 
gathered. Then the voice which had been call- 
ing to him, " Come up higher," called once more. 

In 1870, he was elected by the General As- 
sembly secretary of the Board of Home Missions. 
The congregation with one heart and one voice 
opposed his removal, but his own conviction of 
duty was clear, and the Presbytery with reluc- 
tance were compelled to acquiesce. For ten 
years he filled the ofiice which made his name a 
household word throughout all Christendom. 



76 EIGHTY YEARS. 

More than a year ago, failing health compelled 
him to retire from the active duties of his office 
and to seek in temporary rest strength for new 
labors. But his work was done, his crow^n was 
ready, and the Master had need of him for a still 
higher service above. He came back to the peo- 
ple he had loved so well to spend among them 
his last days and leave with them his precious 
dust. Slowly we saw the light of life go out. 
Day by day we saw his steps grow feebler and 
feebler, his eye dimmer and dimmer, and his elo- 
quent voice fainter and fainter. On Sabbath 
morning, September 11th, 1881, his spirit was 
caught up into the temple above to join in the 
worship of the great congregation round the 
throne. 

Such is the brief historic outline, the setting 
of the picture. But the picture itself we hesitate 
to attempt. Portrait painting is always difficult. 
Those delicate spiritual lines Avhicli the soul 
within traces upon the features it is hard for the 
most skillful pencil to transfer to canvas. 

1. As a man he was richly and in many re- 
spects most remarkably endowed. There was in 
him a rare combination of the most seemingly 
incompatible qualities. Imagination was the im- 
perial faculty of his mind and seemed to hold all 
others in subjection. Out of the faintest analo- 
gies and the dimmest resemblances it fashioned 



EIGHTY YEARS. 77 

ideal scenes and built up ideal worlds. His sen- 
sibilities were keen, reflecting as a burnished 
mirror the form of every passing object. His 
sympathies were quick, and warm and transform- 
ing. I have seldom known one who could so 
thoroughly appreciate the situation, enter into 
the feelings and put himself into the place of 
another. Imaginative, impressible, sympathetic, 
affectionate, his temperament was that of the 
poet and his world the world of romance. And 
yet with all this there was a strange mingling of 
the most prosaic and practical qualities. His 
observations of men and affairs were large and 
yet minute and circumstantial. His mind was 
always active, his faculties always on the alert 
and he was always gathering knowledge from 
surrounding objects. Of those marvelous extem- 
poraneous speeches which thrilled his hearers he 
might say, as Daniel Webster said of his great 
speech, it took me thirty years to prepare it. 

2. These natural characteristics, consecrated 
by Divine Grace and brought into the service of 
the sanctuary, gave their peculiar complexion to 
his character and work as a minister. A devout 
student of the Avord, his theology was drawn 
directly from its pages. The great end of preach- 
ing as he regarded it was simply to declare the 
mind of the Spirit, and his preaching Avas largely 
expository. But his imagination embellished and 



78 EIGHTY YEARS. 

flung attractions round the most familiar truths, 
grouping them into new forms and presenting 
them in new combinations, so that the old was 
forever becoming new. His ardent sj^mpathies 
enabled him to discern the application of the 
truth unfolded to the wants of his hearers, arid 
his ardent affections enabled him to bring them 
home to their business and bosoms with rare 
power. The man embodied himself in the 
preacher and transfused his own magnetic qual- 
ity into the sermon. 

3. As a pastor he was almost everything that 
a pastor should be. Kind, tender, sympathetic, 
he was ever ready to weep with those who wept 
and to rejoice with those who rejoiced — not in 
those great sorrows only which rend the heart- 
strings, but in the everyday annoyances and per- 
plexities which make up so much of the bitter- 
ness of every life. He was a wise counselor and 
a skillful guide. I remember well the impression 
made by the young pastor among his own peo- 
ple and throughout the churches of Western 
Pennsylvania. He did not dwell in a world 
apart. He knew men, he knevv^ affairs. He was 
a dweller in this present world of living men 
and living interests. He could talk with farm- 
ers, and merchants, and physicians, and lawyers, 
and judges, with an intelligent appreciation of 
their affairs and a real sympathy in their per- 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 79 

plexities. And these sanctified secularities were 
always a power in his ministry. 

4. Of him as a presbyter I need scarcely 
speak. His promptness in attendance upon all 
meetings, his readiness to take his full share of 
labor and responsibility, his quickness, his versa- 
tility, his large information, his ripe experience, 
his deep earnestness and magnetic power, are 
well known. How invaluable his counsels, how 
effective his agency, especially in composing dif- 
ferences and healing breaches ! 

5. As a secretary. Great as the loss was to 
us, great as the grief was to him in sundering the 
ties Avhich bound him here, the Church acted 
wisely for her larger interests in placing him at 
the head of her Board of Missions. His qualifi- 
cations for the work, both theoretical and prac- 
tical, were remarkable. Few had a larger knowl- 
edge of this great land in its present condition, 
or a clearer prophetic vision of its greatness. 
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great 
Lakes to the Southern Gulf, it was spread out 
before him as a map. He had traversed almost 
its entire extent. He delighted in collecting 
statistics and gathering information of every 
kind concerning it; with its climate, soil, pro- 
ductions, character of its inhabitants, undevel- 
oped resources and possibilities for the future, 
few statisticians were better acquainted. From 



80 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

boyhood, the coming glory of this great land was 
a delightful theme. His eye always sparkled, 
and his voice always grew eloquent when he 
adverted to it. And with those glowing visions 
there was burned into his very soul the profound 
conviction that the gospel was the only hope for 
that future. Those marvelous speeches of his, 
which so thrilled all hearts in Presbyteries, and 
Synods, and General Assemblies, and gave such a 
mighty impulse to the cause for which he pleaded, 
were just the outflow of that clear prophetic vis- 
ion of the future greatness and glory of this broad 
land and the profound conviction that the gospel 
alone was the conservator of that future. 

REV. DAVID C. MARQUIS. 

Dr. Dickson was succeeded by the Rev. David 
C. Marquis, who was installed third pastor in 
September, 1870. Dr. Marquis was born in Mer- 
cer county, Pa. He was a child of the covenant 
and planted in the house of the Lord. Reared 
in Western Pennsylvania, like Dr. Dickson, he 
was surrounded on every side by churches who 
had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
Some of the noble company of the apostles of 
Western Pennsylvania, Tate and Satterfield, and 
Munson, still survived and he was privileged from 
time to time to sit at their feet. Amid such hal- 
lowed influences his childhood and early youth 



EIGHTY YEARS. 81 

were passed, and here he received his best educa- 
tion and anointing. Early in life he gave him- 
self to his father's God to serve him in the min- 
istry. He was graduated at Jefferson College 
and studied theology at the Western Theological 
Seminary. He is a profound biblical scholar, a 
thorough Presbyterian and a thorough Calvinist. 
Of sturdy nature, of strong will and strong con- 
victions, but tolerant of the opinion of others, a 
delightful companion, a loyal friend, a brother 
loving and beloved. It was no easy matter to 
follow such a man as Dr. Dickson and fill the 
pulpit which he had occupied. But this Dr. 
Marquis did. His pastorate was eminently suc- 
cessful and his influence was felt, not in West- 
minster alone, but throughout the city and the 
Presbytery. In October, 1878, the pastoral rela- 
tion at his request was dissolved. 

Of the remaining pastors who come so near to 
our own times we need but give names and dates. 
Eev. William J. Gill was installed December 
18th, 1878, and resigned January, 1884. Eev. 
Morris E. Wilson, installed December, 1881, re- 
signed February, 1890. Rev. J. W. Rogan, in- 
stalled November, 1890, resigned October, 1896. 
Rev. John M. Allison, the present pastor, in- 
stalled April, 1897. 

From various causes Westminster for some 
years past, has labored under difficulties and dis- 



82 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

couragements, but the skies have begun to 
brighten and cheering signs of promise begin to 
appear. The pastorate of Brother Allison, brief 
as it has been, has been greatly blessed and all 
hearts are encouraged and strengthened. 

The present officers of the church are. Rev. 
John L. Allison, pastor ; Benjamin Whitely, Elijah 
S. Heath, S. C. Brewster, E. L. Pettit, C. W. Cog- 
gins and John Templeton, elders ; Robert Davis, 
David Conan, Alexander P. Gray, Sr., and J. 
Kennedy Mattee, deacons. 

The last statistical report: Communicants, 
whole number, 302 ; adults and infants baptized, 
11 ; Sunday-school members, 134 ; contributed 
to Home Missions, $305.00 ; Foreign Missions, 
$213.00 ; Education, $12.00 ; Sunday-school Work, 
$51.00 ; Church Erection, $6.00 ; Relief, $16.00 ; 
Freedmen, $9.00; Synodical Aid, $26.00; Aid 
for Colleges, $8.00 ; General Assembly, $25.00 ; 
Congregational, $3,985.00 ; Missions, $42.00. 

CENTRAL CHURCH. 

The history of the Central Church is in many 
respects a remarkable history. It has passed 
through all the vicissitudes and experienced all 
the changes possible to churches. It has reached 
the heights of prosperity and sunk into the 
depths of adversity. To-day trembling for its 
existence, and to-morrow rejoicing in its abun- 



EIGHTY YEAES. 83 

dant enlargement. There is not a chapter in the 
history of any of our churches, prosperous or ad- 
verse, which does not find its counterpart in the 
Central Church. Hitherto, we have passed 
lightly over the financial distresses and pro- 
tracted struggles through which most of our 
churches have passed and through which so many 
are passing to-day. The entire history of many 
from the beginning is that of one long, unbroken, 
at times almost hopeless, struggle for existence. 
How many heart-breaks of pastors and pastors' 
wives, when they were compelled for years to 
repeat the weary question to each other, What 
shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and 
wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 

We propose here to tell the story of the 
Central Church at greater length, because it is 
typical of all these. The reading may bring 
cheer to some burdened hearts, and inspire hope 
and courage, too, in some who are just ready to 
faint in the long struggle, for who knoweth 
when enlargement and deliverance may come to 
them ? 

The Central Church was organized in 1853, as 
appears from the following record : 

'^Baltimoee, April 13, 1853. 
" At a meeting of the committee of Presbytery 
for the purpose of organizing a congregation to 



84 EIGHTY YEARS. 

be called The Central Presbyterian Church of 
Baltimore, the committee, consisting of Dr. J. T. 
Smith, Kev. Dr. J. M. P. Atkinson, and Elder Wil- 
liam B. Canfield, met in the lecture room of the 
Franklin Street Presbyterian Church. Meeting 
opened with prayer by the Kev. Mr. Atkinson. 
After a statement of the object of the meeting 
by Dr. Smith, chairman, the names of the per- 
sons asking for the organization of the Central 
Church were read, amounting to the number of 
eighty-three. On motion it was resolved to elect 
two elders, and to elect viva voce ^ whereupon 
Dr. Baer and John McEldowney Avere elected 
elders." 

Of the eighty-three members, some seventy 
were from the Associate Reformed Church, and 
owing to their peculiar views of church polity, 
only two could be induced to serve the church as 
elders and none as deacons. Immediately upon 
their organization they called the Eev. Stuart 
Robinson as their pastor. Mr. Robinson had been 
serving the Associate Reformed Church for some 
time with great acceptance, but he was a high 
church Presbyterian, and the congregation was in- 
dependent. In a little time there was friction 
between the pastor and officers of the church 
and Mr. Robinson's position had become so 
embarrassing that he accepted the call. A com- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 85 

moclious hall Avas procured on Hanover Street, 
for the temporary use of the congregation. A 
lot was selected on the corner of Saratoga and 
Liberty Streets. The erection of a church build- 
ing was at once commenced and was completed 
in about two years. Its total cost was some 
$63,000. A debt was left upon it of $30,000, 
$18,000 of which was made permanent, and 
rested as a heavy incubus upon the church for 
many a weary year. Mr. Eobinson was highly 
popular as a preacher, large congregations were 
attracted, and to the superficial observer all 
seemed well, but the state of the finances was 
not satisfactory. Irritating questions arose as to 
the respective functions of church officers, and 
the proper policy to be pursued, and in 1856, at 
the request of Mr. Eobinson, the pastoral relation 
was dissolved. 

Under the pastorate of Mr. Eobinson the num- 
ber of members increased from eighty-three to 
257. J. Harmon Brown, John Doane, J. M. 
Stevenson, Sr., and William Hogg were added to 
the eldership. In 1855, William Eeynolds, Sr., 
George W. Andrews, W. A. Dunnington, Dr. J. 
H. Perkins, and William H. Stevenson, were 
ordained the first deacons. The trustees were 
George M. Gill, J. Hartshorne, William Miller, 
G. Armstrong, George F. Webb, Benjamin De 
Ford and William Eeynolds, Sr. The removal 



86 EIGHTY YEAES. 

of Mr. Robinson told at once, and disastrously, 
upon all the interests of the congregation. Many 
and for a time uniformly unsuccessful efforts were 
made to procure a successor. Drs. B. M. Smith, 
William M. Paxton, William A. Scott, Charles 
Wads worth, and Dr. Thompson, were succes- 
sively called, and all declined, apparently for the 
same reasons — the unsatisfactory state of the 
finances and the peculiarity of the organization 
of the church. At length in January, 1858, Dr. 
Thomas E. Peck accepted a call. For several 
years he had been pastor of Broadway Church, 
w^ith large experience and extensive acquaintance 
in the city. He struggled on for two years and 
then left to accept a professorship in Union Sem- 
inary, Yirginia. He was succeeded by Eev. Silas 
G. Dunlap, who remained but a few months. 

The condition of the congregation now ap- 
peared to its best and bravest friends to be 
altogether desperate. Its income was reduced to 
$1,450. Its expenditures were $3,630. Attend- 
ance upon all its services had greatly fallen off. 
Many of its members had united Avith other 
churches and the discouraged remnant were 
openly debating the question of disbanding. 
The corporation was bankrupt and the church 
was dead without hope of revival in itself. If 
saved at all it must be saved from without. 
There were at the time three separate interests, 



EIGHTY YEARS. 87 

which if combined and brought into the Central 
Church might preserve it from extinction. The 
Third and Fifth Churches had both been dis- 
solved, but remnants of their membership and 
fragments of their funds were still left. Several 
families of the Second Church had removed into 
the vicinity. Could these three interests be united 
and combined with the Central Church it might 
be saved. To accomplish this, representatives of 
all three, Mr. James Malcolm, Messrs. James 
and Hugh Warden, Mr. William Crichton, and 
others of the Second Church, Mr. William H. 
Cole, Mr. William McLean, and others of the 
Third Church, and Mr. John F. McJilton, Mr. 
George F. Needham and others of the Fifth 
Cliurch, conferred together on the subject. 
They had throughout the hearty sympathy and 
cordial cooperation of Dr. Backus, with his great 
influence and supreme devotion to the cause. 
After protracted negotiations, they succeeded at 
last in uniting the three interests. Then they 
approached the Central, offering to pay off their 
floating debt, which was large and pressing, to 
secure the payment of the interest of the perma- 
nent debt, $1,080 per year, and to provide for 
the current annual expenses, conditioned upon 
the calling of Dr. J. T. Smith as their pastor. 

Dr. Smith was at that time in the theological 
seminary at Danville, but the condition of the 



88 EIGHTY YEARS. 

seminary too, had become desperate. Drs. Breck- 
inridge and Humphreys, on whom the seminary 
was mainly dependent, were both entirely dis- 
abled by sickness. On account of the war, the 
students who were largely from the south and 
southwest, dispersed until only eleven were left, 
and it was evident that the doors of the seminary 
must be closed. Dr. Smith had some inviting 
positions within his reach and one of them he 
was inclined to accept when the call from Balti- 
more came. It is ahvays hazardous for a pastor 
to return to a field he has once occupied. The 
difficulties of welding four such diverse elements 
into one harmonious whole, and that amidst the 
agitations and passions engendered by the war, 
were all apparent. But he had written to Dr. 
Backus and Mr. Malcolm that, as they were on 
the ground and knew all the circumstances he 
would submit his judgment to theirs, and upon 
their representations the call was accepted. He 
came at once to Baltimore and was installed pas- 
tor of the church on the 16th of March, 1862, 
Drs. Backus, Dickson and J. J. Bullock conduct- 
ing the installation services. The officers of the 
church were at this time : elders, J. M. Steven- 
son, Sr., and William Hogg ; deacons, "William 
M. Stevenson, Dr. J. H. Perkins and William 
Reynolds, Jr. ; the trustees as reorganized, 
Joshua Hartshorne, J. H. Stimson, Thomas D. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 89 

Baird, Alexander Kieman, William H. Stevenson, 
George F. Webb, AVilliam Reynolds, Sr., James 
Malcolm, William Crichton, Hugh Warden, Wil- 
liam H. Cole, and George F. Needham. 

The prosperity of the church and congregation 
for a few years was altogether unexampled. The 
pew rents, then the source of congregational 
revenue, advanced from some $1,400 to $5,200. 
The offerings from $4,000 to some $15,000. The 
pastor's salary was doubled, and financially the 
arrangement succeeded beyond hope. The 
church membership increased from a little more 
than a hundred to upward of 400. The congre- 
gation became the largest in the city. For a 
time it was the fashion, and all flocked to it. 
All the agencies and appliances of church activi- 
ties, Sunday-school, mission societies, ladies' so- 
cieties were abundant in efficient labors. The 
prosperity of the church seemed to be assured, 
and its mountain seemed to stand strong. 

In May, 1873, the General Assembly met in 
the church, and in the July following in the great 
fire on Clay Street, it was almost totally con- 
sumed, and the question of rebuilding at once 
arose. The resources for building were ample. 
$28,000 cash in hand, $12,000 actual subscriptions 
from thirteen persons, $10,000 promised, and an 
interest in the Saratoga Street lot estimated at 
$10,000 ; in all $60,000. With this, and additional 



90 EIGHTY YEARS. 

amounts expected, it was determined to erect a 
building without debt. 

Tlie question as to the location of the new 
church gave rise to protracted consideration, 
some wishing to build on the old site, others pre- 
ferring to build further west or northwest. 
While these questions were under consideration 
another and more serious question arose, Can we 
build at all ? For the great financial crisis in the 
closing months of 1873 had swept nearly the 
whole of the $60,000 away. $15,000 unfortu- 
nately invested were almost entirely lost. The 
promised $10,000 failed. The Saratoga Street 
lot, instead of yielding $10,000, burdened the 
church with an annual charge of $1,080. I^early 
all was gone, and under the financial pressure no 
subscriptions could be hoped for. What now 
shall be done ? Keduced in numbers, and with- 
out means, how can we make bricks without 
straw, or build without the material to build ? 
How often daring those dark days we were met 
with the salutation which met the poor returned 
Jews of the captivity when they attempted to 
rebuild their ruined temple. " What do these 
feeble Jews ? . . . Will they revive the stones 
out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned ? " 
In this extremity, when all hearts were failing 
them for fear, a meeting of trustees was called in a 
little back office on Courtland Street to consider 



EIGHTY YEARS. 91 

the situation. And when it was fully set forth, a 
hushed and painful silence followed. Then Mr. 
Thomas Kensett arose. I can see him now, for 
my eye was fixed upon him, and his words will 
be with me forever. '' Yes," said he, " it is bad 
enough, but I will give $5,000 to begin the work." 
Another and another followed until in a little 
time, enough was raised to secure the lot, lay 
the foundations of the church and erect the chapel 
adjoining. The chapel was completed and opened 
for public worship on the 20th of December, 
1874. Protracted services were held on the oc- 
casion in which the members and ministers of 
other denominations united. The church was 
dedicated to Christian unity from its very foun- 
dation stone, and there in that little chapel the 
congregation lingered through five years of 
weary waiting, and the hope deferred that maketh 
the heart sick. How short those years now 
seem ! How long they Avere in passing ! At 
length an honored lady came to me one day — how 
can I ever forget it ? — and said, " I will give $5,000 
to go on with the building." Another lady said, 
''And I also will give $5,000." In a little time 
enough was secured to raise the walls and com- 
plete the exterior of the building, and now that 
all means were exhausted, what shall be done ? 
Business men told us that on business principles 
we must stop. Are there any principles other 



92 EIGHTY YEAES. 

than business principles upon which we can safely 
venture ? Have we any promises of God, the 
great Proprietor, whose are the silver and the gold, 
which we can safely trust ? Do we hold any se- 
curities of faith which can be converted into the 
securities of the market ? "Will God honor our 
drafts on him in current coin? There were 
some who took the golden coin in their hands 
and translated the motto on its face, In God we 
Trust, into treasures more precious than gold. 
They believed on their business principles that 
the promises of God were good security. So 
they believed and the work went on. Materials 
were to be provided from day to day. Work- 
men were to be paid every Saturday night. De- 
mands of many kinds were to be met. And al- 
ways, sometimes in strange ways, and at the very 
last hour, every instant demand was met, every 
note when due, was paid, and the credit of the 
church was kept untarnished. At last the church, 
a model of simple and severe beauty, so symmet- 
rical in its proportions, so harmonious in its color- 
ing, so admirable in all its appointments was 
completed. On March 8th, 18Y9, it was opened 
for public worship. The pastor preached in the 
morning, assisted in the opening and dedicatory 
services by the Rev. Dr. Backus and the vener- 
able Dr. McCosh of Princeton. Mr. Moody 
preached in the afternoon and Dr. McCosh in the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 93 

evening. It was a day of gladness, the goal of 
long weary years of toiling and struggling and 
waiting, the answer of prayer, the reward of 
faith, the vindication of God's faithfulness over 
against our unbelieving fears. 

But the wilderness was not yet passed. An- 
other and final struggle remained. There was a 
debt of $35,000 and an annual deficiency of some 
$2,800. It was an appalling prospect. Expe- 
dient after expedient was suggested, tried and 
abandoned. Effort after effort was put forth to 
meet by temporary devices successive exigencies 
as they arose. And all the time the burden was 
growing heavier and heavier. At last it was de- 
termined to abandon all tamperings and tempor- 
izings and make an effort to discharge the debt 
entirely and at once. A committee of chosen men 
was appointed and they addressed themselves 
with earnestness and energy to the task before 
them. The entire congregation rallied at their 
call. The people gave, not only willingly, but 
like the tribes in the desert, superabundantly. 
Offerings were refused from some who were will- 
ing to give even beyond measure. At last the 
$35,000 was raised and the work was done. The 
annual income for current expenses remained to 
be provided for. Hitherto it had been raised by 
pew rents, supplemented by the Ladies' Aid So- 
ciety and special efforts. These it was deter- 



94 EIGHTY YEAES. 

mined to abandon and secure the whole amount 
needed by voluntary subscriptions in advance. 
Subscriptions were at once taken up and enough 
was secured to meet the annual expenses. No 
debt, no deficiency! "We were like them that 
dreamed. The Ked Sea was passed, and stand- 
ing on the other shore we sang our Miriam song 
of thanksgiving. 

It was a long dark night, but in it we saw 
stars we had never seen before. It was a weary 
wandering in the Avilderness, but the pillar of 
cloud went before all the way. It was a stern 
trial of faith, but only " that the trial of your 
faith, being much more precious than that of gold 
that perisheth, . . . might be found at last 
unto praise and honor and glory." Very much of 
the dross of the church was consumed in the fur- 
nace, — its pride and worldliness, its rejoicing in 
numbers and material strength, and social prestige, 
which so often converts a church of Christ into a 
social or religious club, " whose rejoicing is in it- 
self." Its gold was refined. Walking together 
through the flames, in drawing near to the Mas- 
ter, they drew near to each other, and their hearts 
were knit into the unity of spirit and the bonds 
of peace. 

All the time, in many ways and through many 
agencies the church has abounded in the work 
of the Lord. The officers of the church, elders, 



EIGHTY YEARS. 95 

deacons and trustees, in times that sorely tried 
their faith, were found faithful men. The women, 
as al\va3^s, were foremost in almost every work. 
The Ladies' Aid Society and Helping Hand So- 
ciety were helpers indeed, especially in the dark 
days of deficiencies. They had their Missionary 
Societies, home and foreign, and abounded in un- 
organized and individual as well as in organ- 
ized labors. The Young People's Societies were 
means of grace to them, and the Young Men's 
Association provided sociables and public lec- 
tures and afforded opportunity for many de- 
lightful reunions and communions. The Sun- 
day-school through all these years was the right 
arm of strength to the church. It has been 
favored from the beginning with a succession of 
superintendents such as are seldom found : Mr. 
McJilton, Mr. E. C. Small, Mr. William Dugdale, 
and Mr. Theodore Miller. Under the superintend- 
ency of such men the Sunday-school was at once 
a nursery to the church and a benediction to the 
community around. 

But its activities were not confined within it- 
self, or devoted to its own advancement alone. 
In 1865, Mrs. Eachel Colvin, Mrs. William Key- 
nolds, and other noble women with them, re- 
solved to establish a mission in southwestern 
Baltimore. Miss Nehmyer, a woman full of the 
missionary spirit, was employed to visit the 



96 EIGHTY YEARS. 

families in that region, and a little brick chapel, 
which had been erected by the Columbia Street 
Methodist Church, on the corner of Eidgley and 
Hamburg Streets, was purchased. A mission 
school was opened in it, and superintendents and 
teachers were supplied from the church. Not- 
withstanding the great distance and the difficulty 
of access, for thirty years in summer and winter, 
in sunshine and storm, their places in the school 
were always filled. Under the effective and un- 
tiring labors of Mr. George H. Beatson, the 
school grew in numbers and in influence for 
good. In process of time the little chapel disap- 
peared and a spacious stone church has risen 
from its ruins. The mission has grown into an 
organized church, and appears on the roll of the 
Presbytery as the Eidgley Street Church. The 
little one has become a thousand. When we 
look at it to-day and then look back to its feeble 
beginnings we are ready to exclaim, " What hath 
God wrought ! " 

Some years later Mr. Eichard O. Crisp, a mem- 
ber of the church, left a legacy of $50,000 to 
establish a church near Brooklyn, as "2l branch 
of the Central Church." Under the watchful 
superintendence of Mrs. Crisp and her super- 
added gifts, a beautiful stone building, with par- 
sonage adjoining, was erected on the most com- 
manding site in Brookl3^n. On the 13th of May, 



EIGHTY YEARS. 97 

1888, in the presence of a large congregation, the 
cliurch was opened for public worship. A church 
was organized, and appears on the list of the 
Presbytery as the Crisp Memorial Church. 

The church has given eight of its young men to 
the ministry, has brought as gifts to the Lord's 
treasury nearly $500,000, has built three churches, 
to stand as memorials of God's grace, and to 
leave as precious legacies to those who shall 
come after them. These things are palpable, 
seen and read of all men, but the unrecorded 
labors, the invisible fruits, the souls blessed, and 
quickened and saved we can know only in that 
great day when the books are opened and all the 
hidden things of time are disclosed. 

In 1893, Dr. Smith, who had "been pastor of 
the church for thirty-one years, and had reached 
the age of seventy-five, resigned his charge. The 
Eev. Hugh K. Walker, of Birmingham, Ala., 
was called as his successor. He entered upon his 
labors with great earnestness and zeal, but be- 
fore the results of his work could be fairly seen, 
he felt constrained by reasons which seemed to 
him imperative, to ask for his dismissal to enter 
another field. He was succeeded by the Eev. 
De Witt M. Benham, the present pastor, who has 
won all hearts by his kindly sympathies, and 
courteous manners, and earnest devotion to his 
work. Under his faithful ministry it is hoped 



98 EIGHTY YEARS. 

that the time, even the set time, to favor the 
Central Church has come. 

The present officers of the cliurch are : the Rev. 
De Witt M. Benham, Ph. D., pastor. 

Elders, William H. Cole, Theodore K. Miller, 
George H. Beatson, Joseph T. Smith, M. D., 
Benjamin A. Nelson, John T. Hill, Charles W. 
Benson, M. D. 

Deacons, Archibald McElmoyle, Louis C. 
Deitsch, Robert Cole, William L. Smith, Howard 
Martin, J. Wilson Cole, William Yansant, T. 
Turner Tongue, and Hugh Cooper. 

Trustees, Theodore K. Miller, William H. Cole, 
A. McElmoyle, George H. Beatson, John C. 
Rose, Joseph T. Smith, M. D., T. Turner Tongue, 
Douglas Rose, John Martin, John T. Hill. 

STATISTICAL EEPORT FOR 1898. 

Elders, 8 ; deacons, 9 ; added on examination, 
15 ; on certificate, 16 ; dismissed, 18 ; died, 3 ; 
whole number, 401. 

Baptized adults, 3 ; infants, 4 ; Sunday-school 
members, 314. Contributions for Home Missions, 
$1,038.00 ; Foreign Missions, $645.00 ; Edu- 
cation, $18.00; Sunday-school Work, $35.00; 
Church Erection, $337.00 ; Relief, $48.00 ; Freed- 
men, $19.00 ; Synodical Aid, $46.00 ; Aid for Col- 
leges, $12.00; General Assembl}^ $50.00; Con- 
gregational, $8,192.00 ; Miscellaneous, $47.00. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 99 

MADISON STEEET CHUECH (Colored). 

During the same year with the Central, 1853, 
the colored church now worshiping on AVest 
Madison Street, was organized. Presbyterians 
had always felt and manifested in many ways a 
profound interest in the large colored population 
of Baltimore. In those early, slavery days, 
Christian masters recognized their obligation 
to provide for the religious instruction of their 
slaves. Mission schools and Bible classes were 
established among the colored people in different 
sections of the city, and devoted teachers were 
always found to serve them. The names of 
colored members were found on all our church 
rolls. They Avorshiped with the white congre- 
gations and were seen in them all seated on back 
seats or in the gallery. The relations of the two 
races and their proper conduct toward each other 
in the house of God were problems even more 
perplexing then than now. While all recognized 
the fact that in Christ Jesus there is neither 
bond nor free, neither black nor white, practically 
it was found difficult to manifest this unity in 
the forms of outward and visible fellowship. 
The colored people found themselves in many 
ways embarrassed, and as they thought, hindered 
in their efforts at self -improvement by their as- 
sociation with the whites. Many of the more 
intelligent among them desired a se2)arate organ- 



100 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ization. After protracted and prayerful con- 
sideration it was determined to yield to their 
wishes and organize a colored church under the 
care of a white pastor. A commodious building 
was erected on East Madison Street, near Park, 
and the Rev. Robert L. Galbreath, who was 
known to have peculiar aptitude for such a work, 
Avas called as their pastor. His installation was 
an occasion of unusual interest, and gathered a 
large congregation of both races. All felt that 
the experiment was one of great significance, and 
would be far reaching in its influence. I will 
never forget the eloquent words of Dr. Plumer 
on that occasion. In charging the pastor I had 
spoken of the happy results which we hoped to 
see following the transaction of that day. " Yes," 
said Dr. Plumer, who followed, " we will see its re- 
sults, not on earth only but in heaven." He then 
went on to speak of the melodious voices of colored 
people, and their sweet and inspiring singing to 
which we had just listened. ''And," said he, 
" when their voices mingle in the new song with 
those of the great choir above, they will raise it 
to a louder, gladder strain." He then went on in 
his eloquent way to speak of their position and our 
solemn obligation toward them, addressing him- 
self particularly to masters, for slavery was then 
not yet abolished, and urging upon them for their 
own safety, for their country's welfare, and for 



EIGHTY YEARS. 101 

the salvation of the souls intrusted to their care, 
to meet the responsibilities imposed upon them. 

Mr. Galbreath served the church faithfully for 
some years. It was well organized and its offi- 
cers soon became familiar with their respective 
duties and its affairs were well administered. It 
has always occupied a first place, as it does to-day, 
among the colored churches of the city. A long 
succession of colored pastors followed, some of 
whom, tried by any standard, were excellent men 
and superior preachers. Among them were Mr. 
Eevels, who afterwards became United States Sen- 
ator from Louisiana ; Joseph Carr, who has occu- 
pied many important stations ; and William H. 
Weaver, whose eloquent appeals in behalf of his 
race led to his appointment as agent of the 
Board of Freedmen, a position he still occupies. 
If one did not see Brother Weaver's face while 
speaking he might imagine himself listening to a 
Jones, or a Gibson, or a Dickson. For obvious 
reasons Presbyterian services are not so attrac- 
tive to colored people generally and their pastors 
have labored diligently to instruct their people 
and make them intelligent Christians and give to 
the understanding its rightful control over their 
emotional nature. But the colored churches of 
the city, for two others have been added to the 
number, are doing a needful and grand work for 
their race in Baltimore. 



102 EIGHTY YEARS. 

The present oiRcers are : Reuben H. Arm- 
strong, pastor ; elders, Cornelius Butler, James 
J. Fessenton, George E. Fry, William Scott. 

TWELFTH CHUECH. 

During the same year, 1853, the first steps 
were taken toward the establishment of the 
Twelfth Church. At a meeting of the friends of 
the enterprise in the nineteenth ward, held in 
the office of Dr. Joseph H. Perkins and presided 
over by Dr. Backus, it was determined to erect a 
church in that locality. A large committee was 
appointed to secure subscriptions and superintend 
the work, consisting of Dr. E. H. Perkins, S. W. 
Barber, Thomas Dixon, Ira B. Canfield, John 
Bigham, Thomas Harknes, Charles Findlay, M. 
Magne, Dr. Joseph E. Perkins, J. M. Dickson 
and John Eogers. A lot was secured on West 
Franklin Street, near Fremont, and the building 
Avas completed and opened in 1854. It was small 
and incommodious, but has been renovated and 
greatly improved. The church was organized 
by a committee of Presbytery in May, 1854, and 
E. E. Horner and D. A. Hollingshead were 
elected elders. 

The Eev. C. B. McKee had gathered a Sunday- 
school in a room on Fremont Street, and con- 
ducted there a regular preaching service. The 
school removed into the basement of the new 



EIGHTY YEARS. 103 

building when completed and Mr. McKee served 
the church as a stated supply until 1855. The 
Kev. James Hughes was installed the first pastor 
in 1858. He was succeeded by the Rev. William 
R. Marshall, who remained until 1865. The Rev. 
J. Y. McCartney was elected to succeed him but 
died before he entered fairly upon his work. The 
Rev. James M. Maxwell succeeded and served 
the church until 1874. The Revs. J. M. Jelly, 
Sylvester W. Beach and David B. Greigg, served 
the church in the order named until 1898. 

The Rev. Joseph S. Malone, the present pas- 
tor, has just entered upon his work with encour- 
aging prospect of success. 

The Twelfth Church has recently, as indeed 
through almost its entire history, from vari- 
ous causes been compelled to struggle against 
hindrances, but we trust there is now the dawn- 
ing of a better day. 

The present officers are : Pastor, Rev. Joseph 
S. Malone ; elders, Levi A. Dodd, William J. Jami- 
son, Henry Thomas, Charles Barnsley, Dodson 
Postell. 

LIGHT STREET CHURCH. 

In October, 1853, the women of the First 
Church resolved to open a mission school on 
Federal Hill in south Baltimore. They secured 
the services of the Rev. J. H. Kaufman, licenti- 



104 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, to take 
charge of the work. He succeeded in gathering 
a large number of children into a hall on the 
corner of Light and Montgomery Streets. The 
school prospered^ and, as there was no Presby- 
terian Church, in south Baltimore it was resolved 
to erect one. The corner stone was laid in the 
fall of 1854, and the building was opened for 
public worship in June, 1855. The church was 
organized with twenty members in April, 1855, 
and in April, 1856, the congregation was incor- 
porated under the name of the South Presby- 
terian Church, which was afterward changed to 
the Light Street Presbyterian Church. In 1858, 
a parochial school was opened in the basement ; 
and in 1862 a parsonage was purchased. The 
church, feeble from the beginning, has been com- 
pelled all through its history to contend with ad- 
verse circumstances, but in the face of all dis- 
couragements has kept on its way faint, yet pur- 
suing, and has been a benediction to south 
Baltimore. Its pastors, I knew them all, were 
earnest, self-sacrificing men, enduring hardness 
as good soldiers. Some of them were men of 
rare gifts and have left behind them blessed 
memories and enduring monuments of their 
work. We can but give their names and years 
of service. 

The first, the Rev. Henry J. Kaufman, was 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 105 

pastor from October, 1855, till September, 1860; 
Rev. John H. Potter, from October, 1860, to June 
1867; Rev. G. W. Hair, from October, 1867, to 
June, 1869; Rev. W. G. Hillman, from March, 
1870, to December, 1871 ; Rev. David J. Beale, 
from April, 1872, to September, 1883; Rev. 
James D. Fitzgerald, from November, 1883, to 
September, 1888 ; Rev. James P. Green, from 
May, 1889, to February, 1892 ; Rev. Kinley Mc- 
Millen, from May, 1892, to October, 1896; Rev. 
William M. Everett, the present pastor, was in- 
stalled in May, 1897. 

The present officers of the church are : Rev. 
William M. Everett, pastor; elders, Levi A. Mer- 
rill, William L. Beale, Robert E. Lee Butler, 
William Frank Downs. 

On account of the approaching civil war there 
w^as an entire arrest put upon all efforts at church 
extension during the following fourteen years. 

BROWN MEMORIAL CHURCH. 

In 1870, the Brown Memorial Church was 
erected on the corner of Lafayette and Park 
Avenues. It was built and presented to the con- 
gregation by Mrs. Isabella Brown, as a memorial 
of her deceased husband. 

The church was organized in January, 1870. 
Brown Memorial Church was signally favored 



106 EIGHTY YEARS. 

beyond all that preceded it in several important 
particulars. The church edifice was presented to 
it complete and its pastor's salary guaranteed for 
a time. It was spared the long struggles through 
which others were compelled to pass. Most of 
our churches originated in Sunday-schools, estab- 
lished in little rooms, in the basement or on the 
upper floor of private dwellings. From this they 
merged into a chapel, small and rude, but taxing 
to the utmost the resources of the builders. It 
was only after long delays and strenuous exer- 
tions the church at last appeared burdened with 
a heavy debt, under which it was compelled to 
stagger for years. The building, too, when com- 
pleted, was too often small, incommodious and 
every way unattractive. But Brown Memorial 
entered at once into a spacious and attractive 
building, provided for it without debt. Most of 
our churches were at first but a little band from 
which men of wealth and social influence and 
experience in the divine life and the conduct of 
church affairs stood aloof. But the colon}^ which 
formed the Brown Memorial Church was strong 
in all the elements of material, social and spiritual 
strength. How it is to be wished that other 
Isabella Browns would found other Brown Me- 
morial churches and other men from our large 
churches would go into them and make them 
strong from the beginning. 



EIGHTY YEARS. 107 

REV. J. SPARHAWK JONES. 

The Eev. J. Sparhawk Jones was ordained the 
first pastor in January, 1870. Dr. Jones is a son 
of the Hon. Joel Jones, and was born in Phila- 
delphia, June 5th, 1842. He was graduated at 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1862, studied 
theolog}^ at Princeton, became collegiate pastor 
with Dr. Backus of the First Church in 1867, 
and for three years served that church with con- 
stantly growing popularity till the spacious 
building could scarcely contain the congregation. 
He came to Brown Memorial Church with a 
large acquaintance and an established reputation 
in the city. His preaching was peculiarly at- 
tractive. He gathered hearers from all churches 
and from all sections of the city. In the height 
of his popularity and in the midst of his useful- 
ness he was compelled by ill health to seek relief 
from labor, and the pastoral relation was dissolved 
in October, 1884. 

REY. FRANK GUNSAULUS. 

Dr. Jones was succeeded by the Rev. Frank 
Gunsaulus, a native of Ohio, educated and or- 
dained to the ministry in his native State. He 
was for seven years pastor of a Congregational 
church in Columbus, Ohio, and afterward of a 
Congregational church in Newtonville, Mass. In 
May, 1885, he was installed pastor of the Brown 



108 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Memorial Church. Dr. Gunsaulus is an eloquent 
preacher with marked peculiarities of style and 
manner which have the charm of novelty, es- 
pecially to a Baltimore audience. He was averse 
to all definitions, impatient of precision in thought, 
and unskilled in logical discussion. He reached 
and moved his hearers through the imagination 
and heart. His imagination was truly creative 
and he was a poet in the old sense of a maker. 
He could give to airy nothings a local habitation 
and a name. He could breathe into cold ab- 
stractions and dead dogmas the breath of life, 
and cause them to live and move before his 
hearers. The limpid flow^ of his words, and the 
music of his sentences, never failed to charm the 
ears of his hearers. As might be expected from 
his antecedents the atmosphere of Baltimore 
Presbyterianism was not in every way congenial, 
and he thought he could be more useful in the 
Plymouth Church of Chicago, to which he had 
been called. 

REV. MALTBIE D. BABCOCK, D. D. 

The Eev. Maltbie D. Babcock, D. D., was in- 
stalled in 1887. Dr. Babcock was born and edu- 
cated in Central ISTew York, and is a graduate of 
Auburn Theological Seminary. Under his min- 
istry the church is flourishing, as never before. 
Large congregations crowd the church at every 



EIGHTY YEARS. 109 

service. He is an attractive preacher, and inde- 
fatigable pastor. The church abounds in liber- 
ality and activities of every kind. Dr. Babcock 
has been frequently called to other fields but thus 
far has resisted all solicitation, for his work in 
Baltimore is not yet done. 

The present officers of the church are : the Eev. 
Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock, pastor ; elders, John P. 
Ammidon, John K. Cowen, E. J. D. Cross, O. F. 
Day, John Dixon, M. D., P. B. Milliken, I. E. 
Page, M. D., John P. Eamsey, H. M. Simmons, 
M. D., Benjamin F. Smith ; deacons, Daniel C. 
Ammidon, James O. Bates, Alexander Boggs, 
Jr., A. K, Bond, M. D., Frank M. Dushane, 
Henry King, E. T. Laurens ; trustees, Thomas 

C. Basshor, James A. Gary, W. A. Hanway, 
William Harvey, Jesse Hilles, Frederick A. Hoff- 
man, Daniel W. Hopper, G. A. Yon Lingen, D. 

D. Mallory, Calvin S. Schriver, Edward War- 
field, Charles F. Woods. 

KNOX CHUECH. 

In 1875, a Sunday-school, for colored children, 
under the superintendence of the Second Church, 
was opened in the McKim school house on the 
corner of Baltimore and Aisquith Streets. The 
school grew in numbers, and as there was no 
colored church east of the Falls, it was resolved 
to erect one in that vicinity. It was organized 



110 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

February 15th, 1877, with some fifty members. 
Mr. Frederick McGinnis, and George Devin, were 
elected elders. Efforts were made from time to 
time to erect a church building, but all failed, 
until the enterprise was undertaken by tlie 
Presbyterian Association. They secured a lot 
on Colvin Street near Hillen, and the building 
was erected and opened for public worship in 
K^ovember, 1892. 

The first pastor was the Eev. William McCoy 
Hargrave, who was installed April 29th, 1877. 
He was born in Lexington, N. C, in 1847, and 
was graduated from Lincoln University in 1873. 
He is a man of cultivated tastes and fine scholar- 
ship and would do honor to any pulpit. The 
McKim schoolhouse which the congregation oc- 
cupied during his pastorate was altogether un- 
suited to their needs. The members were few, 
poor, and widely scattered. Under discourage- 
ments which would have overwhelmed any one 
less brave, he labored on tillJuly 4th, 1886, when 
the pastoral relation was dissolved. 

He was succeeded by the Eev. William C. 
Brown, who was installed in 1887, and served 
the church until 1893. The congregation was 
served by temporary supplies until the present 
pastor, the Rev. Alonzo S. Gray, was installed, 
April 9th, 1897. He was born in John's Island, 
S. C, took his normal and industrial training at 



EIGHTY YEAKS. Ill 

Brainard Institute, S. C, Avas graduated from 
Lincoln University in 1893, and spent two ad- 
ditional years in the study of theology at How- 
ard Universit}^, D. C. He is a well read theo- 
logian, a well instructed Presbyterian, with man- 
ners and diction which Avould grace any pulpit. 
He is holding on his way in the face of unnum- 
bered difficulties, and proves every day the 
Lord's faithfulness to his promise, " As thy days, 
so shall thy strength be." 

The present olficers are : Pastor, Rev. Alonzo S. 
Gray ; elders, William B. Marshall, Samuel E. 
Distance. 

TOME STREET CHURCH. 

Some fifty years ago a few families from 
Wales landed at Locust Point seeking for 
employment. They were copper molders by 
trade, and when the large copper works were 
established in Canton they crossed the bay and 
were employed in the new works. They brought 
with them their religious faith and the memories 
of their Christian homes. From time to time 
and from house to house, they gathered together 
for social worship. Finally they procured a 
small hall where they established a Sunday- 
school with occasional preaching in Welsh. They 
belonged to different denominations, chiefly 
Methodists, Baptists and Congregationalists. In 



112 EIGHTY YEARS. 

1865 they resolved to unite and build a church 
for their common use. The Canton company 
gave them a lot, and poor in this world's goods 
but rich in faith and abundant in labors they 
began to build. The men after their day's work 
would repair to the building and often at mid- 
night on moonlight nights were seen laboring 
upon the walls, the women and children joining 
in their labors. At last on a day of gladness in 

1866 the chapel was completed, and the Sunday- 
school opened within its walls. They had no 
ecclesiastical organization for some time, but Avere 
finally organized as a Congregational Church 
under the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Richards, a 
Welsh Congregationalist. Mr. Richards remained 
with them but a short time. On his leaving 
many members also left and the feeble remnant 
were discouraged and almost despairing. The 
church building, in the meantime had become 
so dilapidated as to be unfit for use. Mr. J. 
Henry Stickney, so well known in the Congre- 
gational Church, for his good works came for- 
ward and repaired and renovated the building. 
On reentering the chapel the Rev. J. Wynne 
Jones, a student in Princeton Seminary, was in- 
vited to take charge of the enterprise. He 
preached with great acceptance alternately in 
Welsh and English, The congregation grew, 
and in April, 1878, a Presbyterian church was 



EIGHTY YEARS. 113 

organized with twenty-three members and the 
Eev. J. Wynne Jones was called as their pastor. 
He was installed June 27th, 1878. His ministry 
was blessed and in a little time the chapel be- 
came too strait for their growing numbers. 

GRACE CHURCH. 

A mission had been opened by some members 
of the First Church west of Druid Hill Avenue. 
It was prospered from the beginning, and in a 
little time it was resolved to erect a building for 
their accommodation. A lot was secured on the 
corner of Dolphin and Etting Streets, and the 
present structure was erected upon it. The Rev. 
Mr. Higgins was invited to take charge of the 
enterprise, and served for some years with great 
acceptance. After the readjustments which took 
place on the union of the New and Old Schools, 
the building was finally transferred to the colored 
people. The Rev. Charles Hedges had gathered 
a congregation on Linden Avenue, and ministered 
to them for some years. Chiefly from these 
Grace Church was organized October 12th, 1880, 
under the pastoral care of the Rev. Charles 
Hedges. The congregation from its origin has 
labored under great discouragements, and its 
financial distresses from time to time have been 
extreme. Mr. Hedges struggled on and hoped 



114 EIGHTY YEARS. 

on until 1891, when he resigned to occupy an- 
other field. 

REV. EDWARD F. EGGLESTOK. 

Mr. Hedges was succeeded by the Eev. E. F. 
Eggieston, who was installed October 18th, 1891. 
He is a native of Amelia County, Va., was grad- 
uated with high honor from the collegiate de- 
partment of Lincoln University in 1883, and 
from the theological department in 1886. He 
was ordained and installed pastor of the church 
in Oxford, Pa., by the Presbytery of Chester. 
After about a year's service there, he removed to 
Danville, Va., where, in addition to serving the 
church successfully, he established the Danville 
Industrial High-school, which has proved a bene- 
diction, not only to Danville, but to all the sur- 
rounding region. The colored churches of Bal- 
timore have been signally favored in their pas- 
tors. The Master has sent to them chosen serv- 
ants furnished abundantly with the gifts and 
graces of his Spirit. Most of them men of edu- 
cation and refinement, they have been called to 
endure hardness almost beyond measure. How 
often the hearts of those who were admitted to 
their confidence have bled for them, and how 
earnestly they have prayed that the Lord would 
raise up for them friends and helpers. 

Not the least among these in talents and edu- 



EIGHTY YEARS. 115 

cation and devotion to his Master's work is 
Brother Eggleston. From his first appearance 
he won the hearts of his brethren by his cordial 
greetings and brotherly sympathies. He appre- 
ciates beyond most the true position of his race 
and the exact training needful for their elevation. 
He is laboring to make Grace Church an object 
lesson to all the churches of his race around. 
Under his pastorate the church has been strength- 
ened and enlarged. A heavy debt, soon after 
his coming, was lifted off, and a parsonage was 
recently purchased and presented to the congre- 
gation by the munificence of Mr. W. W. Spence. 
The present officers are: Pastor, Kev. E. F. 
Eggleston ; elders, Charles Davage, G. Merritt, 
Samuel C. O wings, Pratt Wallace, W. G. 
Thomas, S. Stark. 

LAFAYETTE SQUAEE CHUECH. 

The need of a church in the northwestern part 
of the city was long felt. At one time it was 
proposed to build the Central Church in that 
locality. When the Central finally determined 
to build on its present site, measures were at 
once taken to erect a church building on Lafay- 
ette Square. A lot w^as procured on the west 
side of the square, a large and commodious edi- 
fice was erected, and opened for public worship 
in February, 1880. The church was organized 



116 EIGHTY YEARS. 

on the 23d of February, 1880, with Mr. O. F. 
Day and V. F. Small, Jr., as elders. The Eev. 
Samuel McLanahan was hnmediately called as 
their pastor and ivas installed in May, 1880. 

REV. SAMUEL McLAISTAHA]^. 

Eev. Samuel McLanahan is a native of Penn- 
sylvania, was graduated at Princeton College and 
Seminary, licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, 
ordained by the same Presbytery in June, 1877, 
and served the church of Waynesboro, Pa., as 
stated pastor and supply until called to Balti- 
more. 

Brother McLanahan by gifts and graces is di- 
vinely ordained bishop. He does not bear the 
title, indeed, nor even the Presbyterian title of 
superintendent, or presbyterial missionary. He 
had no episcopal designation except that of 
chairman of home missions. But his services as 
an overseer were invaluable. He has rare exec- 
utive gifts, both as an organizer and adminis- 
trator. The churches of the Presbytery of Bal- 
timore never had such efficient episcopal over- 
sight before. During the short time when he 
was released from pastoral care he devoted him- 
self to the work of visitation and superintendency. 
Feeble churches and vacant churches and vexed 
churches and unemployed ministers, all who 
needed a wise counselor and helpful friend found 



EIGHTY YEARS. 117 

them in him. Under his pastorate Lafayette 
Square Church was well organized. All the ap- 
pliances and adjuncts of church work were estab- 
lished on true foundations. Having served this 
church for thirteen years, and feeling that the 
Lord had need of him elsewhere the pastoral 
relation, at his request, was dissolved July 1st, 
1893. 

REV. ROBERT J. RANKIN. 

The Eev. E. J. Kankin was installed as the 
second pastor November 28th, 1893. He was a 
native of Maryland, the son of an honored elder, 
Samuel J. Eankin, known in all our churches. 
Robert was given to the Lord in infancy and 
was brought up in the house of the Lord. In 
the dew of his youth he took his father's God 
to be his God, and gave himself to his service 
in the ministry. Lie was educated at Princeton. 
Seldom has a young man entered upon the min- 
istry with brighter prospects of usefulness and 
honor. From his first coming he won the hearts 
of his people and his ministry was eminently 
fruitful. As a preacher he had that peculiar 
nameless something which we sometimes call 
magnetism and sometimes unction. But wher- 
ever the hiding of his power it was felt in souls 
saved and edified. Suddenly in the early morn- 
ing of his years, and just at the entrance of his 



118 EIGHTY YEARS. 

work, he was taken away by death on the morn- 
ing of June 5th, 1894. To us it seems that his 
work Avas not done, but there is no such thing as 
a premature death to the servant of God. His 
worlc on earth was done, his cro\Yn was ready 
and the Master had need of him for the higher 
service above. 

REV. LLEWELLYN S. FULMER. 

The Rev. L. S. Fulmer, the present pastor, is a 
native of Pennsylvania. He was educated at 
Princeton and installed the third pastor, June 
4th, 1895. He is a diligent student and instruct- 
ive preacher. His pulpit he makes his throne 
of power ; and under his ministry the church is 
prospered and built up in grace and holiness. 

Tlie present officers are : Pastor, Rev. Llewel- 
lyn S. Fulmer; elders, W. F. Rogers, E. D. 
Freeman, S. M. Rankin, S. R. Hogg, W. J. 
Mackee. 

BOUNDARY AVENUE CHURCH. 

In 1878 some Presbyterian ladies opened a 
Sunday-school on the corner of Maryland and 
North Avenues. The northern section of the 
city was growing rapidly and the population had 
already overswept what was long known in fact, 
as well as in name, as the Boundary. The school 
grew rapidly and it was found necessary to erect 



EIGHTY YEARS. 119 

a chapel for its accommodation. Mrs. Peyton 
Harrison purchased and presented a lot in a most 
commanding situation on the corner of North 
Avenue and St. Paul Street. A large and com- 
modious chapel, a Gothic structure, built of Bal- 
timore County marble, was completed and occu- 
pied in ]\[arch, 1880. The congregation grew 
rapidly and in December, 1883, it was resolved 
to commence the erection of the main building 
which was speedily completed. 

In April, 1879, articles of incorporation of the 
Boundary Avenue Presbyterian Church were 
issued to the following gentlemen : W. W. 
Spence, J. C. Backus, John L. Eeed, W. B. Phil- 
lips, John C. Barckley, E. B. Hunting, E. H. 
Perkins, Jr., J. Franklin Dix, Henry D. Harvey, 
Edmund J. Linn, Albert A. Hassen and Eichard 
K. Cross. 

The church was organized by a committee of 
the Presbytery of Baltimore February 7th, 1880, 
with eighteen members and William B. Phillips, 
R. K. Cross, elders ; and John C. Barckley and 
Edward F. Arthurs, deacons. The Rev. George 
T. Purves was called as pastor. 

EEY. GEORGE T. PURVES. 

Dr. Purves is a native of Philadelphia, the son 
of an honored elder in the First Presbyterian 
Church of that city. He was educated at Prince- 



120 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ton and occupied the first rank for talents and 
scholarship. He has been eminently successful as 
preacher, pastor and professor. Under his pas- 
torate large accessions were made to the mem- 
bership. The Sunday-school and all the societies 
and helpers of church work w^ere in successful 
operation, when, greatly to the surprise and re- 
gret of the congregation, he announced his wish 
to accept a call which had been tendered him 
from the First Church of Pittsburg. The pas- 
toral relation was dissolved and the pulpit de- 
clared vacant June 19th, 1886. 

EEV. WILLIAM DURANT. 

Dr. Purves was succeeded by the Eev. William 
Durant, who was installed June 21st, 1887. He 
had been pastor of the church in MorristoAvn, N. 
J. He had been blessed in his ministry there 
and the thoughts of the congregation were early 
turned to him. He entered upon his work with 
earnestness, but for reasons which seemed imper- 
ative to him, asked for a dismissal, and the rela- 
tion was dissolved in June, 1892. 

REV. FRANK E. WILLIAMS. 

The Rev. Frank E. Williams was installed 
December 20th, 1893, and still remains pastor of 
the church. Young, ardent, with overflowing 
vitality, under his pastorate the machinery of 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 121 

church work is energetically conducted, and the 
church abounds in works of faith and labors of 
love. He is an earnest preacher of the glorious 
gospel of the blessed God. The church is blessed 
and prospered under his ministry. 

The present officers of the church are : Eev. 
Frank E. Williams, pastor ; elders, Eichard K. 
Cross, John L. Eeed, J. Hume Smith, T. Mel- 
ville Prentiss, Franklin J. Morton, Charles W. 
Wisner, Albert L. Gardner ; deacons, A. M. Bas- 
table, William M. Powell, Edward F. Arthurs, 
George H. Porter, J. Kemp Wysham, Eugene M. 
Hildermann, William G. Garrett ; trustees, Keu- 
ben Foster, William M. Powell, George B. Hunt- 
ing, Hiram H. Taylor, John Murdock, Oliver 
Hoblitzell, Franklin J. Morton, A. M. Bastable, 
Eobert S. Carswell, William H. Bayliss, Walter 
B. Harvey, and Samuel B. Martz. 

ABBOTT MEMORIAL CHUECH. 

The Abbott Memorial Church is located on 
the corner of Bank Street and Highland Avenue. 
It grew out of a Sunday-school which had been 
opened on Bank Street, in 1881. It was organ- 
ized November 30th, 1882, with twenty-six mem- 
bers, chiefly from the Tome Street Church. 
John Charles and George Hughes were ordained 
elders, and James T. Hopkins and Charles Be van, 
deacons. The Eev. J. Wynne Jones was in- 



122 EIGHTY YEARS. 

stalled as pastor, December 10th, 18S3, Avliere he 
continues to this day indefatigable in labors, 
ardent in zeal, a minister of mercy to the poor 
and a benediction to the whole community 
around. 

It is called Abbott Memorial for Mr. Horace 
Abbott. He was for many years one of the 
trustees of the Second Church, ever ready with 
his money and his influence to advance its in- 
terest. He established the large iron works in 
Canton, known as the Abbott Iron Company, 
where so many years of his life were passed, and 
his own fortune and the fortune of others were 
made. He and his family desired to erect in 
that locality some more lasting memorial than 
the works, which already bore his name, and the 
Abbott Memorial Church stands as that memorial 
to-day. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott gave $29,000, Mr. 
Mrs. and John S. Gilman, $8,000, for the build- 
ing and parsonage. Mr. George H. Brown, and 
others, purchased the lots for $6,400. 

The present ofiicers are : Kev. J. Wynne Jones, 
pastor ; elders, Edward Clark, Cyrus Copper, 
Enoch Bowen, Joseph T. Wiley, Enoch Webb, 
Absalom McVey, George Kane, Eobert McDan- 
iels. 

FAITH CHUECH. 
Faith Church, like Westminster, stands in the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 123 

midst of God's Acre, the burial place of the 
Second, as Westminster of the First Chm'ch. In 
18T6, some members of the First Church desired 
to establish a mission Sunday-school in the 
vicinity of the cemetery. They rented, and 
fitted up for the purpose, an old blacksmith shop 
on the corner of Gay and Chase Streets. In 
January, a Sunday-school was organized with 
John V. L. Graham and E. H. Perkins, superin- 
tendents, and the school was opened February 
2d, 1876. The growth of the school was phenom- 
enal, increasing from year to year, till in 1887, 
it reached the number of 1,629. On April 18th, 
the Kev. J. W. Mcllvane conducted the first 
preaching service, and this was continued from 
time to time, b}^ the several ministers of the city. 
The large increase in the school demanded larger 
accommodations, and it Avas proposed if practi- 
cable to erect a chapel on the adjoining burying 
ground. The trustees of the Second Church 
conveyed the ground to the Presbyterian Asso- 
ciation, and the Association authorized the build- 
ing of the chapel, which opened for public 
worship under the name of the Faith Chapel of 
the First Presbyterian Church, and the Eev. 
John P. Campbell, just graduated from Princeton 
Seminary, was invited to take charge of the 
enterprise. In a little time the congregation had 
outgrown the chapel, and it was resolved to at- 



124 EIGHTY YEARS. 

tempt the erection of a large stone church along- 
side. In January, 1882, a building committee 
was appointed, consisting of George S. Brown, 
John V. L. Graham, John L. Reed, Robert H. 
Smith, and J. P. Campbell. The church build- 
ing was opened for public worship, November 2d, 
1884. The tower was erected in 1885, by George 
H. Brown, as a memorial of his mother, Mrs. 
Isabella Brown. For ten years it had been con- 
ducted as a mission of the First Church. On 
November 8th, 1886, Faith Church was organ- 
ized by a committee of the Presbytery of Bal- 
timore with 300 communicants. Martin B. 
Billingslea, and John Donn, were ordained eld- 
ers ; E. A. Alexander, D. P. Brown, Dixon Guy, 
Theophilus Hill, and Edward Hyde, deacons. 
The church was incorporated in March, 1895, and 
the buildings and lot were conveyed by the 
Presbyterian Association to the trustees of Faith 
Presbyterian Church. 

REV. JOHN P. CAMPBELL. 

On November 28th, 1886, the Kev. John P. 
Campbell, who had so long serred the congre- 
gation, was called as their pastor, and Avas in- 
stalled the December following. The Eev. John 
P. Campbell is a native of Caledonia, N. Y., was 
educated at Princeton, and ordained by the Pres- 
bytery of Eochester. He is a model pastor and 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 125 

an instructive preacher. Under his efficient 
leadership the congregation from the first grew 
rapidly in numbers and abounded in good works. 
It has become one of the largest churches in 
the city, and its influence for good is felt in the 
whole community around. Its present member- 
ship is 569. Nine hundred and twenty were 
added on examination, and 246 by certificate, 
during his twenty years' labor. Brother Camp_ 
bell has become the patriarch of the Presbytery. 
While repeated changes have been taking place 
all around him he still stands in his lot, his in- 
fluence growing with every passing year. The 
present officers are : Eev. John P. Campbell, pas- 
tor ; elders, M. B. Billingslea, M. D., Dixon Guy, 
Theophilus Hill, and Edward Hyde ; deacons, 
Dixon Guy, Theophilus Hill, Edward Hyde, 
George C. Diggs, and Oliver W. Cummings. 

FULTOIT AYENUE CHURCH. 

Fulton Avenue Church is located on North Ful- 
ton Avenue, near the railroad station. It grew 
out of a Sunday-school established in the neigh- 
borhood and conducted largely by members of 
the Lafayette Square Church. The school grew 
in numbers and the Presbyterian families in the 
vicinity thought the field an inviting one. A 
church was organized with twenty-three commu- 



126 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

nicants and one elder in IS'ovember, 1SS6, and a 
commodious church building was erected. 

KEY. EDWARD H. ROBBHSTS. 

The Eev. Edward H. Eobbins was called and 
installed as their first pastor. He is a native of 
Baltimore, esteemed for his own sake, and his 
father's sake. He was educated at Princeton, 
and the church under his able preaching and wise 
and sympathetic oversight, with the cooperation 
of a band of noble helpers, has grown constantly 
and healthfully in numbers and influence and 
usefulness. The Sunday-school has been con- 
ducted with marked efiiciency, and has been, not 
in name only, but in reality, the nursery of the 
church. The people of Fulton Avenue Church 
have been fruitful in good works, and earnest in 
their efforts to carry the blessings of the gospel 
into the regions beyond. The present officers 
are : Pastor, Eev. Edward H. Eobbins ; elders, 
George H. Conn, James L. Eidgely, Henry A. 
Burroughs, E. Wesley Hale, Benjamin F. Clark, 
George B. M. Fosnot. 

CHUECH OF THE COYEKAKT. 

This church owes its existence to the unfalter- 
ing faith and self-denying labors of the Eev. 
William L. Austin. His heart was moved by the 
spectacle of the spiritual destitution of a large 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 127 

and neglected portion of the cit3^ As he wan- 
dered through its streets and alleys and saw how 
many Avere perishing for lack of vision, he re- 
solved to devote himself to the work of giving to 
them the gospel. Alone, but cheered by the 
sympathy of a few faithful friends, he procured 
a little hall on the corner of Fulton Avenue and 
Pratt Street, and commenced preaching there to 
a little congregation of fourteen. A Sabbath- 
school was at once organized with some forty 
scholars. The work prospered, and the time at 
last came for the planting of a church. It was 
organized November 29th, 1889, under the name 
of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. 
For about a year they continued to worship in 
Kadcliff -s hall, when the place became too strait 
for them, and a larger hall was procured on the 
corner of Lombard and Strieker Streets. The 
present building on the corner of Strieker and 
Hollins Streets was opened January, 1883. The 
Eev. William L. Austin was installed the first 
pastor December 8, 1894, and continued the work 
he had thus far carried on in the face of manifold 
hindrances. There was something sublime in his 
faith and constancy and unwavering trust in the 
Everlasting Arm. His brethren, who knew his 
heart and shared his counsels in those dark days, 
found an inspiration in his patient waiting and un- 
wavering faith. On September 11th, 1896, Avhen 



128 EIGHTY YEARS. 

the wilderness was passed, and the promised land 
was in sight, he died in the vigor of his j^ears and 
the midst of his usefulness, for the Master had 
use for him, too, above. His mantle fell upon his 
successor, the present pastor, the Kev. Henry S. 
Graham, Avho has taken up his unfinished w^ork 
of making the Church of the Covenant a light 
and a blessing to the region around. The pres- 
ent oiflcers are : Pastor, Rev. Henry S. Graham ; 
elders, H. S. Sohl, Joseph Cowman, George L. 
H. Krise. 

BOHEMIAIT CHUECH. 

In the fall of 1889, the session of Faith Church 
gave the use of their chapel to a number of Bo- 
hemians residing in the vicinity, who desired a 
place in which to hold religious services in their 
own language. The first service Avas held in the 
Bohemian language December 2, 1889. On Jan- 
uary 26th, 1890, Eev. Vincent Pisek, of the Bo- 
hemian Presbyterian Church, New York city, 
preached to an audience of seventy persons and 
administered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
to fifty-five communicants. The work was con- 
ducted under the care of the session of Faith 
Church, who in every way encouraged and helped 
the enterprise. The Bohemian Church was or- 
ganized by the Presbytery of Baltimore April 
22d, 1890. Eev. Vaclav Losa was installed the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 129 

first pastor, but resigned to accept the charge of 
a church in Clarkson, Neb. He was succeeded 
by the present pastor, the Rev. V. Vanek. The 
congregation had the free use of Faith Chapel 
until a lot was purchased by the Presbyterian 
Association, on which a church was erected and 
opened for public worship October 16th, 1898, in 
the presence of a large and deeply interested con- 
gregation. They have at present five elders, four 
deacons, eighty-nine communicants, 162 Sabbath- 
school scholars — the descendants of martyrs, the 
countrymen of Jerome and Huss, inheritors of 
the blessings purchased by the blood of a noble 
ancestry ! 

PAEK CHURCH. 

Park Church grew out of a mission established 
by Brown Memorial Church on Druid Hill Ave- 
nue, near the Boundary. The population was 
growing rapidly in that region, and the mission 
increased with it. As there was no church in the 
immediate vicinity, it was resolved to erect a 
building and organize a church. A lot was pro- 
cured on the corner of North and Madison Ave- 
nues, and a large and commodious chapel was 
erected upon it. The building was completed 
and occupied April 15th, 1893, and on the 30th 
of May following, the church was organized with 
some twentj^-five members from the Brown Me- 



130 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

morial Church. They procured the services of the 
Rev. George L. Curtis, who had just completed 
his theological studies and been ordained by the 
Presbytery of Rochester. Brother Curtis is an 
earnest and eminently evangelical preacher. 
Park Church more nearly approaches the ideal 
of an institutional church than any others. Its 
boys' brigade and societies of different kinds are 
conducted Avith great vigor, and the church 
abounds in Christian activities of every kind. 
Its membership has grown and, in every respect, 
it has been prospered. Though from the begin- 
ning, largely helped and supported by the Brown 
Memorial Church, it has been an independent 
organization, and its members have never ap- 
peared on the roll of the Brown Memorial Church. 
The present officers of the church are : Rev. 
George L. Curtis, pastor ; elders. Dr. James H. 
Frazer, Edward Stinson, Alfred Niles, A. B. 
Crane; deacons, Charles A. Hook and James 
Shriver. 

RIDGLEY STREET CHURCH. 

In 1865, Mrs. William Reynolds, and Mrs. Sarah 
Colvin, with other noble Avomen of the Central 
Church, resolved to establish a mission in south- 
western Baltimore. The Central Church, then 
on Liberty Street, looked out on a wide field of 
destitution in that direction. The services of a 



EIGHTY YEAKS. 131 

devoted woman. Miss Mary Nehmyer, were se- 
cured to explore the field. It was found that a 
brick chapel on the corner of Kidgley and Ham- 
burg Streets, which had been erected by the Co- 
lumbia Street Methodist Church, could be pur- 
chased. It was procured, and a Sunday-school 
was a.t once opened within its walls. Superin- 
tendent and teachers were supplied from the Cen- 
tral Church. The chapel, especially after the re- 
moval of the church to Eutaw Place, was far off, 
and for a time difficult of access, but for more 
than thirty years, in summer and Avinter, in sun- 
shine and storm, those devoted officers and teach- 
ers were always found in their place. I thought 
of giving their names, but the list is too long. 
They are known in heaven and enshrined in 
many grateful hearts on earth. The school grew, 
the population around it increased till the chapel 
became too small. In 1890 it was taken down 
and the erection of the church commenced. On 
the following October the Sunday-school room 
Avas ready for use, and in JN'ovember, 1892, the 
basement was completed. Services were held in 
it until January, 1896, when the main auditorium 
was completed. It is a large, imposing stone 
building, an ornament to the neighborhood, and 
a monument of the faith and labors of its build- 
ers. The names of Reynolds, Colvin, Hall, Tyson, 
McElmoyle, Beatson, Rose, Deitsch, Dailey, Gra- 



132 EIGHTY YEAES. 

ham, and many names beside, are written in in- 
delible, if invisible ink, on its foundation stones. 
For several years a preaching service was main- 
tained in the chapel from time to time, and con- 
tinuously, for several years, by the Rev. Mr. 
Coyle, of Washington, D. C. In 1892, it was 
felt that the time was come for the organization 
of a church, and in October of that year it was 
organized with ninety-two members, whose names 
up to that time had been on the roll of the Cen- 
tral Church. The Eev. Edward E. Weaver was 
called and installed pastor October, 1892. 

KEY. EDW^AED E. WEAYEE. 

He was born in Canton, Ohio, June 10th, 1864, 
was graduated at Wooster University, and studied 
theology at Princeton. Brother Weaver has done 
a great and good work for Ridgley Street Church. 
It was a formidable undertaking, under the ex- 
isting conditions, to attempt the erection of so 
large and costly a building, and brother Weaver 
gave himself to the work with tireless energy. 
Courteous and kind and wise, while intensely 
earnest, he has secured sympathy and help from 
all quarters. He has labored on amidst difficul- 
ties and discouragements with whole-hearted de- 
votion, and can to-day rejoice in the fruit of his 
labors. Where so many have done well, he has 
labored more abundantly than they all. He has 



EIGHTY YEARS. 133 

served the church for nearly ten years, and Ave 
trust the time has come when he can rejoice in 
the gathering in of the sheaves. The present 
officers are: Pastor, Kev. Edward E. Weaver; 
elders, Richard Schroeder, Henry Ebert, Eichard 
Spencer, Jr., Frank Walter. 

CRISP MEMORIAL CHURCH. 

Mr. Richard O. Crisp, a member of the Central 
Church, for years resided near Brooklyn. During 
the later years of his life he became greatly in- 
terested in the spiritual welfare of the commu- 
nity in which he had so long resided. He re- 
solved as the best legacy he could leave to them, 
and the best testimony he could give of his own 
personal faith in the gospel of Christ, to erect a 
church in or near Brooklyn. By provision of his 
will the sum of $50,000 was left for this purpose, 
and his wife, Mrs. Annie Crisp, and his brother, 
were named as trustees to erect the building, and 
when completed to convey it to the trustees of 
the Central Church as a branch of that church. 
A beautiful stone church and parsonage were 
erected on the most commanding site in the 
vicinity. The church was opened with appropriate 
services May 13th, 1888. The property was con- 
veyed to the Central Church, the session of 
which by the terms of the will took charge 
of the work; a Sunday-school was organized, 



134 EIGHTY YEARS. 

and the Kev. Charles E. Fisk was engaged to 
supply a regular preaching service. The Crisp 
Memorial Church was organized under the pas- 
toral care of the Eev. William L. Parsons, 
May 4th, 1893. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
Mr. Adams, and he by the Eev. Thomas L. 
Springer, the present pastor. The trustees did 
not confine their expenditures to the amount of 
the legacy, but Mrs. Crisp has added to it largely, 
and provided everything needful to carry out the 
plan in which she so heartily sympathizes. The 
church is an ornament to the neighborhood, and 
is surrounded by a population exposed to peculiar 
perils because of the summer resorts open there. 
ISTot the members of the Central Church alone, 
but the whole community around unite in prayer 
to God to bless and prosper the Crisp Memorial 
Church. 

REID MEMORIAL HOPE INSTITUTE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

In 1887 the First Church opened a Sunday- 
school in the eastern section of the city near 
the corner of Harford Avenue and Madison 
Street. The school grew rapidly in numbers 
and a preaching service Avas instituted which 
has been maintained ever since. A building was 
erected for the service of the school by Andrew 
Reid, Esq., and on the 31st of March, 1895, the 



EIGHTY YEARS. 135 

building was completed and presented to the 
First Church. The Institute at present is served 
by the Eev. William Caldwell. Situated as it is 
in a comparatively destitute neighborhood, under 
Brother Caldwell's ministry its influence for good, 
has been felt in the entire community. 



APPENDIX. 



SPIRITUAL CONDITION AND PROGRESS 
OF THE CHURCHES. 

We have already spoken of the spiritual con- 
dition of the churches in Baltimore during the 
first sixty years of their existence. They had 
not yet attained to the idea of the Church as a 
free spiritual commonwealth, distinct from all 
Avorldly kingdoms and secular associations. 
They tried to perpetuate in the new Avorld the 
State Church of the old and labored to join to- 
gether what God had ordained should be kept 
asunder. The Church w^as a civil corporation 
created by the State and regulated by law. Its 
members were stockholders in the corporation 
and its officers, like the directors in other cor- 
porations, were elected by them and responsible 
only to them. True, it was a religious corpora- 
tion, but no religious qualification was required 
either of its officers or members. Its officers 
were not ordained or responsible to any higher 
authority. Its members were not required to 
profess repentance toward God and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. A worldly morality, embod- 
ied in a reputable life, was the only condition of 
church membership. The spiritualities of the 

137 



188 EIGHTY YEARS. 

kingdom had faded almost entirely aAvay and 
the dividing line between the Church and world 
was almost obliterated. 

In this regard, the condition of the Baltimore 
churches was precisely that of all American 
churches some fifty years before. At that 
time religion had sunk to its lowest ebb, the 
gloomy night of Pharisaic Judaism "having a 
form of godliness but denying the power 
thereof" had settled down upon the Church. 
The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, as in the pro- 
phetic vision, had its hedges all broken down and 
its pleasant things all laid waste. It was the 
valley of dry bones with scarce a sign or move- 
ment of spiritual life. It was time for God to 
work, for vain was the help of man. In the 
very darkest hour, the Lord raised up another 
John Baptist, and sent him forth. " The voice 
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the 
way of the Lord. Eepent : for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand." New England, at that 
time, had imprisoned the faith and almost for- 
gotten the God of her Puritan fathers. The 
Church had well nigh ceased to be a spiritual 
commonwealth, and the ways of Zion mourned. 
In an obscure village of New England, the Lord 
raised up Jonathan Edwards to utter in the wil- 
derness the Baptist's call to repentance. In 1Y34 
he preached his celebrated sermon on Justifica- 
tion by Faith. We read that sermon to-day and 
wonder where was the hiding of its power. But 
the preaching of the old doctrine by which Paul 
startled a dying world, and Luther electrified a 
sleeping church, shook New England as it had 



APPEIS^DIX. 139 

never been shaken before. Men were startled 
as by a trumpet blast from their sleep of world- 
liness and carnal security, and the powers of the 
world to come took hold upon them. False 
hopes in their own righteousness were every- 
where flung away, and men everywhere began 
to call upon the Lord. The great truths of sal- 
vation as formulated by Edwards were taken up 
by the Tenants, and Blair, and a great company 
besides, and proclaimed throughout New York, 
and Pennsylvania and Maryland and Georgia, 
and everywhere churches were revived, and souls 
in uncounted numbers brought home to God. 
But, strangely, while showers of blessing were 
falling all around, Baltimore had no share in the 
blessed baptism. Again darkness fell upon the 
churches, for the history of the American Church 
is one of alternate declension and revival, and 
again God visited them with power from on 
high. The truth as it is in Jesus was given 
back to the Church and proclaimed from all 
its pulpits, but, strangely, the preaching of the 
truth had lost its old power. To some it was 
but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, to 
others but a savor of death unto death. The 
preaching of the truth was in itself found to 
be powerless to save, and again the Lord came 
forth out of his place and the Spirit descended 
in those wonderful revivals which we have al- 
ready spoken of, extending all over the East and 
beyond the Alleghenies, all over the settled 
West, renewing the wonders of Pentecost. But, 
strangely again, Baltimore Avas passed by, and 
had no share in the blessings. But the time, 



140 EIGHTY YEARS. 

even the set time to favor her, at last came. 
We have already spoken of that wonderful ser- 
mon of Dr. Nevins, and its Pentecostal effects. 
The isolation of the Baltimore churches was 
now over, and the Moderates so long in the 
ascendant, were succeeded by the Evangelicals. 
Baptized by the same Spirit, Baltimore entered 
into the communion of saints and thenceforth 
shared in the blessings of the common Father's 
household. 

For a time after their Pentecost, the churches 
of Baltimore Avalked in the light of God's coun- 
tenance and rejoiced in the manifold tokens of 
his favor. There was a glorious summer of sun- 
shine and gladness, and this again was followed 
by a dreary winter. The spirit of worldliness 
came in to grieve away the Divine Spirit. Just 
at that time men were beginning to enter into 
possession of the broad inheritance which God 
had given them. Plains and prairies, mountains 
and valleys, were giving up their hidden treas- 
ures. Exbaustless riches waited for him who 
should gather them, and as new Calif ornias were 
discovered all hasted to be rich and Mammon be- 
came the god of the nation's idolatry. Just then 
in the full noon of their worldly prosperity there 
came suddenly, as an earthquake or a bolt from 
heaven in a clear sky, the great commercial panic 
of 1857. Riches made to themselves wings, values 
melted away, and all confidence was gone. The 
rich man of to-day found himself a beggar to- 
morrow, and the man just reaching out his hand 
to grasp the golden prize saw it turn into Avorth- 
less dross. On every side men with pale lips 



APPENDIX. 141 

and despairing accents were heard exclaiming 
" Ye have taken away my gods which I have 
made and what have I more ?" 

What shall they do, where shall they look for 
help ? AVith these anxious questions on their 
lips three men met in a street in New York, in 
the business center of the city and in the busiest 
hour of the day. As they talked together one 
said : " We have exhausted all our resources and 
vain is the help of man. Let us call upon God 
and perhaps he will hear and answ^er." They 
turned aside into a little room and poured out 
their hearts in prayer. Parting, they agreed to 
meet on the next day and at the same hour. 
When they came together three others had 
joined their company. Day after day the num- 
bers increased until the room became too small. 
Then they repaired to the old John Street 
Church, and that was soon filled to overflow- 
ing. They then went to Burton's theater, the 
largest building in the city. That, too, was soon 
found too small, for never did Booth or Forrest 
in their palmy days attract such crowds as gath- 
ered in that old theater to pray. Merchants, 
bankers, brokers left their desks, to go and call 
upon the Lord. All over the city, halls, theaters, 
churches were open for prayer every day and at 
almost every hour of the day. Never before 
had such a spectacle been witnessed. 

The scenes witnessed in New York w^ere re- 
peated in all the cities and villages of the land 
from Main to Nebraska. It was said that one 
could go from New York to Nebraska, then the 
western boundary, and not pass through a town 



142 EIGHTY YEARS. 

or city on the way where the voice of prayer 
was not heard. It was what Zacharias saw lopg 
before in visions. " The inhabitants of one city 
shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to 
pray before the Lord. 1 will go also." New 
York called to Buffalo, and Buffalo to Chicago, 
and Chicago to St. Louis, and St. Louis to Cin- 
cinnati, and Cincinnati to Pittsburg, and Pitts- 
burg to Philadelphia, and Philadelphia to Balti- 
more, ''Let us go speedilv to pray before the 
Lord." 

The spirit of prayer fell upon Baltimore in 
measure never witnessed before. Lecture rooms, 
chapels, churches, were all crowded as each fam- 
ily prayed apart. The Mechanic's Institute, the 
largest hall in the city, its whole floor thrown 
open, was crowded day after day, Avith men who 
came together to pray. There was no Edwards, 
or Whitfield, or Moody, or evangelist of any 
name, to preach. The multitude came, not to 
hear but to pra}^ Sometimes a brief word of 
exhortation was heard from Dr. Dickson or 
Alexander Carter or some one of kindred spirit, 
but only as an incitement to continue prayer. 

There was a marked progression in these three 
visitations of the Hol}^ Spirit. First, he came 
as the Spirit of truth to magnify the truth and 
make its preaching the great instrument of sal- 
vation. The kingdom was advanced and souls 
were sanctified by the truth. But the truth in 
time, lost its power, and preaching almost ceased 
to edify the church or bring souls to the Saviour. 
The truth in itself was seen to be powerless. 
Then the Holy Spirit was given and the truth 



APPENDIX. 143 

once more became quick and powerful and 
mighty through God. The churches now have 
the truth as the instrument and the Holy Spirit 
as the agent, to make it effectual. But a third 
thing remains. How can the church reach up to 
the Divine Spirit and secure his presence and 
power. The answer was found in these meet- 
ings for prayer and the power of prayer Avas 
gloriously displayed. 

These prayer meetings had a marked influence 
on the religious life of Baltimore and left a last- 
ing blessing behind. They increased the faith of 
God's people in the efiicacy of prayer, and for 
years following prayer meetings were continued 
with a frequency never known before. Weeks 
of prayer were frequently held in the large base- 
ment of the old Central Church where all the 
rooms were thrown open and were crowded with 
devout congregations from day to day. Bequests 
for prayer would be read from mothers for sick 
or profligate sons, from wives for their godless 
husbands, from children for their parents, from 
parents for their children, from friends for their 
unconverted friends. Of course no names were 
mentioned, but sometimes the intense earnestness 
of the writer so breathed in everv word, and the 
case was so clearly and pathetically described, 
that the whole assembly would be moved. Some- 
times answers to prayers, previously offered, 
would be read and the gladness of the writer's 
heart Avould move the whole congregation to rise 
up and sing, " Praise God, from whom all blessings 
flow." Those prayer meetings, in the old Central 
Church, can never be forgotten by those who 



144 EIGHTY YEAES. 

witnessed them. Sometimes all day union 
prayer meetings would be held, commencing at an 
earlj^ hour, sometimes at sunrise ; they were con- 
tinued all through the day and evening, every 
hour a new leader taking charge. They were 
distinctively meetings for prayer. The leader 
would open the hour by a few brief words, stat- 
ing the subject of prayer. Occasionally a few 
earnest words would be interjected, but addresses 
were always few and brief. ' Generally five min- 
utes were allowed to the leader in opening. All 
other addresses were strictly limited to three 
minutes. A bell stood on the table of the leader 
and if any would offer to go beyond his time the 
stroke of the bell called him down. Gradually 
these prayer meetings became less frequent and 
lost their old interest and power ; gradually they 
lost their distinctive character of meetings for 
prayer, and long addresses from the leader and 
others where there was no limitation of time, 
took the place of prayer. 

Along with the spirit of prayer there came to 
believers a sense of personal responsibility for 
the souls of others, and a recognition of the uni- 
versal priesthood of believers. The duty of per- 
sonal and earnest efforts to lead souls to Christ, 
was burned into the hearts of God's people as 
never before, Secularities too were sanctified. 
The telegraph was employed to thrill tidings of 
salvation around the land. The secular press, a 
thing unheard of before, gave full reports of ser- 
mons and mingled news from heaven with news 
of earth. Merchants mingled religious conver- 
sation with their talks on business, and put re- 



APPENDIX. 145 

ligious tracts and pamphlets in the bales of goods 
which they sent to country customers. 

The city has been visited from time to time by 
evangelists of different names, and notably by 
Mr. Moody. Several times he visited the city 
when the largest halls were procured and 
crowded week after week to overflowing. There 
were after meetings and inquiry meetings and 
all the usual appliances. Again and again there 
Avere signs of promise and the blessing seemed 
about to descend. Earnest souls would gather 
together and w^atch for the little cloud to over- 
spread the heavens, but the scenes of 1857 and 
the immediately following years have never 
since been repeated. 

The type of piety within these last few years 
has undergone a marked change, and this change 
manifests itself in all departments of Christian 
life and activity. The topics of preaching, the 
burden of prayers, and the aims of Christian liv- 
ing are all greatly changed. Formerly the chief 
concern of the pulpit w^as with individual souls, 
recognizing the fact that each soul is of more value 
than all worlds. To win the souls of his hearers 
Avas the preacher's great purpose and the doctrines 
of salvation were so unfolded as to shut each one 
up to the faith of Christ. The sinner as lost and 
under the curse and condemnation of God's law, 
the sinner's helplessness, and the necessity of the 
new birth by the power of the Divine Spirit, 
justification by faith, personal faith in a personal 
Saviour, the necessity of holiness, in heart and in 
life, the marks and evidences by which each must 
prove himself whether indeed lie be in the faith, 



146 EIGHTY YEARS. 

— these were the constant topics of the pulpit. 
The preacher laid emphasis upon the fact that 
the kingdom of God is within you, and labored 
most of all for the coming of that kingdom in 
the individual soul. The burden of prayer, too, 
was for a stronger faith, a brighter hope and a 
more abounding love for God. 

In these last days, the thoughts of men are 
largely turned away from the kingdom within, to 
the kingdom without. The great truths by which 
sinners are awakened and Christians are edified 
and sanctified do not occupy the large place they 
once did. Work has largely superseded faith, and 
the labors of the hands have taken the place of the 
searching of the heart. To the ordinances which 
God has appointed, the word, sacrament and 
prayer, innumerable others have been added. 
Societies of every name are established to pro- 
mote each individual Christian grace and accom- 
plish by other means the great ends for which 
the Church was ordained. Machinery is some- 
times so cumbrous and complicated that to tend 
it and keep it moving without friction absorbs 
largely a pastor's time and exhausts the energies 
and activity of the Church. Young people and 
young Christians instead of being gathered to- 
gether as in the early Church, for catechetical 
instruction, come together as teachers of each 
other. The instruction of the young to Avhich 
pastors and elders a few years ago were accus- 
tomed to devote so much time and care are now 
almost unknown. Outward duties are so multi- 
plied and so exacting as to leave little time for 
the cultivation of personal piety. It is difficult 



APPEIS^DIX. 147 

to adjust aright the relations of faith and works 
so as to give to each its proper place. But if 
faith without works is dead, work without faith 
is twice dead. The work of the hands cannot 
take the place of the devotion of heart, and all 
Christian activities which do not flow from sin- 
cere love to God and the souls of men and from 
a heart filled with the Spirit of God, are worth- 
less in God's esteem. If in former times, too 
much emphasis was laid on the kingdom within 
to the comparative neglect of the kingdom with- 
out, we are sure that in these last times too much 
emphasis is laid on the kingdom without, to the 
neglect of the kingdom within. 



THE CIVIL WAE. 

The darkest chapter in the history of the Bal- 
timore churches is that which embraces the Civil 
War. The extension of the Church which had 
been carried on with such unexampled vigor for 
some years was suddenly arrested, and for almost 
fifteen years not a single churcli w^as added to 
the existing number. The very existence of all 
Avas seriously endangered, for that brotherly love 
which is tlie badge of the Cliristian, the bond of 
perfectness, and the foundation on which the 
Cliurch as the communion of saints rests, was for 
the time almost lost. "And if the foundations 
be destroyed, what can the righteous do ? " 

It is impossible for those who did not witness 
those evil days adequately to conceive of them. 
It is impossible in these halcyon days of peace 
for those who passed through them to live them 
over again. Maryland was a border State. Its 
inhabitants were, in almost equal numbers, from 
both sections, the North and the Soutli. Each 
inherited tlie traditions, prejudices and passions 
of its own section. At the outset, the great body 
of the citizens were on the side of tlie Union, as 
was ascertained by careful inquiry at the time. 
As the war went on, however, there was a 
marked change in public sentiment. Some of 
the representatives of the general government 
Avere badly chosen, low, unprincipled., mercenary 

148 



APPEISTDIX. 149 

men, who made merchandise of their office, and 
their faults Avere charged upon the authority 
they represented. Baltimore was in a Southern, 
slave-holding State, and lo3^alty to its section, it 
was urged, demanded its adherence to the South. 
A member of my church, and one of my most 
intimate friends, was an avowed opponent of 
slavery and an earnest advocate of its abolition 
in Maryland. To the surprise of every one, he 
became one of the most active and pronounced 
of Southerners. I said to him, ''Among all the 
surprises of these days, the greatest of all to me 
is that you should be a Secessionist." He re- 
plied, " You know my opinions about slavery, 
but that is our own affair, and we will not toler- 
ate the intermeddling of the Yankees." And 
that sentiment influenced great numbers besides. 

As the war still went on all alienations and 
strifes were multiplied and intensified. Families 
were divided, sons against fathers, and wives 
against husbands, and the peace of many a fam- 
ily was utterly wrecked. Lifelong friendships 
Avere suddenly sundered. The dividing line ran 
through and through all the most tender rela- 
tions and hallowed associations of life. "Except 
those days had been shortened, no flesh had been 
saved." 

Mutual confidence, sometimes among the most 
devoted friends, Avas gone, and ^ atmosphere of 
suspicion enveloped the city. EA^ery one kncAA^ 
that he Avas surrounded by spies and informers 
and often feared to speak lest his most harmless 
Avords should be tortured into CA^idences of dis- 
loyalty. Let me giA^e a fcAv incidents Avhich bet- 



150 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ter than any general description 'will give the 
picture of those times. 

A brother minister from Virginia, Avho had 
been ISTorth, wished to return home, but was re- 
fused a passport. He asked me to intercede for 
him. I went at once to the marshal, told his 
story, and preferred his request. The marshal 
replied that under other circumstances he would 
gladly comply, but just at that time, owing to 
certain military movements on the Virginia bor- 
der, his orders were imperative to allow no one 
to pass the lines. After talking some time he 
pointed to a large case of drawers in his office, 
and said : " That is full of sworn informations 
against men, many of whom you know as among 
the best citizens of Baltimore. Some of these 
informations I know were prompted by sheer 
malice and came from rivals in business or per- 
sonal enemies. Many of them relate to the most 
trivial matters, a careless word, or a thoughtless 
act, tortured into evidence of disloyalty. Yet 
they are presented, many of them, by reputable 
men, and urged with the greatest pertinacity. 
And because I will not become the instrument 
of angry or malicious men, my conduct is criti- 
cised and censured and 1 am exposed every day 
to unnumbered perplexities from this cause." 

On another occasion a brother minister from 
Mississippi camg ISTorth to visit an aged mother 
and a sister who needed his care in those troub- 
lous times. Spies were on his steps, and on his 
arrival in Baltimore he was arrested and thrown 
into jail. He sent me a message informing me 
of his condition and told me his story. I went 



APPENDIX. 151 

to the marshal, related to him the circumstances 
as I had learned them, told him I had known the 
accused intimately for many years and believed 
him incapable of the crime alleged. The mar- 
shal replied, that whatever the facts were the 
circumstances were so suspicious as in his opinion 
to justify the arrest. " But," said he, " on your 
representation, I will release him from jail on 
condition that he report at this office every day 
until further orders." He was released, and I 
invited him to be a guest in my house, a perilous 
thing in those days, for it looked like consorting 
with traitors and giving aid and comfort to the 
enemy. He remained in my house for weeks, 
every day reporting himself at the marshal's 
office, and every day, on his return, telling me 
the passports were for sale and he could buy one 
for a certain price, which his conscience would 
not allow him to do. I said to him and thought 
at the time, he must be deceived. It was proved, 
however, in the end, that an official of the gov- 
ernment made a profitable business of selling 
passports to any w^ho would pay the price, and 
for this and other offenses of which he was con- 
victed he was sent to Sing-Sing. Meanw^hile, 
the brother's sick wife and defenseless family 
were in the heart of Mississippi, Avhich was over- 
run and ravished in every direction by the con- 
tending armies. 

Early one morning a gentleman came into my 
study, announced himself as a detective, showed 
me his badge, and said the marshal wished to 
see me at his office. My first thought was that 
I was under arrest for some alleged offense. I 



152 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

tried to learn for what purpose the marshal 
wished to see me, and succeeded at last in as- 
certaining that it was with reference to one of 
our pastors in connection with the week of 
prayer, which had just been held in the Central 
Church. I went immediately to the brother's 
house to inform him of the facts, and then re- 
paired to the marshal's office. He said that 
charges had been preferred against one of our 
ministers, naming him, who it was said had re- 
fused to take part in the meetings of the week 
before, because the president and authorities of 
the government would be prayed for. I told 
him the facts were not as reported to him, for 
Avhile the brother had refused to take part in the 
meetings, it was for altogether a different reason 
from the one alleged. Then he went on to say 
that he was greatly troubled to know what to do 
with the accused. Complaints were continually 
brought to the office against him as one of the 
most active opponents of the government and 
disturbers of the peace of the city. His house was 
represented as a rendezvous of traitors, and his 
influence in every way was said to be most dis- 
turbing. What ought he to do ? I replied that, 
in my opinion, the worst thing he could do would 
be to arrest or interfere with the brother in any 
Avay. His position was well known, his example 
and influence had already done all the evil they 
could do. To arrest him would be to make him a 
martyr in the estimation of his friends, and 
aggravate the agitations he desired to allay. 
After some further talk he said, " I think that is 
right ; " rang his bell, sent a messenger for a pa- 



APPENDIX. 153 

per, then holding it in his hand said, ^' This is a 
warrant I had already made out for his arrest," 
then threw it into the fire. 

A young man came to me on one occasion and 
said that a friend of his had been condemned as 
a spy, was imprisoned at Fort McHenry, and 
sentenced to be shot the following morning. He 
said that a reprieve had been secured from 
President Lincoln, but for some reason had failed 
to reach the officer charged with the execution. 
I went down to Fort McHenry and told the 
commanding general the facts as reported to me. 
He said that he had no discretion at all in the 
case. His orders were to shoot the condemned 
the following morning, and unless contrary 
orders came it must be done. When I reported 
this answer, the friends of the condemned pro- 
cured at once a locomotive, went over to Wash- 
ington, and found that the president was out at 
the Soldier's Home. They repaired there imme- 
diately, roused the president from his bed, for it 
was far on in the night, and told him their story. 
He listened patiently, and then replied, in his 
peculiar manner : '' You Baltimore Secessionists are 
very strange people. If the country has need of 
your service, you are nowhere to be found, but 
if any of you get into trouble you come down to 
me in shoals. Ifow I want you to understand 
this thing must be ended. My party, and the 
friends of the government are censuring me 
for my frequent interference in cases like this. 
They say I am demoralizing the service by my 
frequent pardons. JSTow I want you to understand 
that if any of you hereafter get into trouble, you 



154 EIGHTY YEARS. 

must not come to me. But this poor fellow, I 
don't wish him to be shot, and I will give you a 
pardon, but remember what I say." He sat down 
and wrote the pardon, and when my young 
friend came to see me the next day, he said : " You 
know how I hated President Lincoln, and how I 
have denounced him ; but he is a noble man, and 
has the heart of a man, and you will never hear 
me denounce him again." I never knew a South- 
erner, however violent his antipathies, who was 
brought into personal contact with President 
Lincoln, under similar circumstances, who did not 
come away feeling as he felt. 

I might multiply instances like these, indefi- 
nitely, for we were continually called upon in 
those days to help our friends in trouble. It was 
a service of no little peril, for s^^mpathy with the 
accused was always liable to be construed into 
sympathy with their cause. I knew that com- 
plaints had been made against me because I so 
frequently interposed in such cases. But I had 
one assurance of safety which all others did not 
have. Judge Hoffman, who was collector of the 
port, and a confidential adviser of the government 
officials, was my firm friend, and sympathized 
heartily with me. I often went to him to secure 
his influence in behalf of persons I desired to be- 
friend, and again and again, he went with me to 
the marshal's office to join in my solicitations. 
I have no doubt it was his influence which more 
than once saved me from trouble, and I am glad 
to have this opportunity of recording the deep 
debt of gratitude I owe to the memory of Judge 
William Henry Hoffman. 



APPENDIX. 155 

It was in such an atmosphere as this that the 
Baltimore cliurches were compelled to live through 
long and weary years. Of necessity they shared 
in the divisions and agitations of the community 
around. The dividing line ran through sessions 
and deacons and trustees and congregations, 
and arrayed them in opposing ranks. Some- 
times the grace of God was not in every case 
sufficient to restrain the madness of passion. 
We were sometimes surprised at the unexpected 
evil of our own hearts, and were amazed at its 
exhibition in others whom we had regarded as 
models of Christian character. Sometimes the 
"saintliest souls were crazed with the excitements 
of the hour. As one example :— I returned from 
Kentucky to Baltimore on the morning of the 
memorable 19th of April, 1861. In the after- 
noon, after the collision of the mob with the 
Massachusetts soldiers on Pratt Street had taken 
place, I walked out. The streets were crowded 
with persons hurrying to and fro, agitated and 
alarmed, not knowing what was to come. Even 
my most familiar friends were afraid to speak, 
or if they did, beckoned me off into a corner. 
On Baltimore Street I met a lady, a member of 
my former church, one of the best of women, 
lovely and gentle and Christlike. Scarcely wait- 
ing to exchange salutations, she exclaimed, 
quivering with excitement, '' Nothing would de- 
light me so much as to plunge a dagger into 
Lincoln's heart." 

No one can conceive of the anxiety and trials 
of pastors in those evil days. Every word in 
sermon and prayer Avas closely scrutinized and 



156 EIGHTY YEAP.S. 

often most strangely perverted. Two members 
of my church were among the most pronounced 
and extreme Union men. On the morning after 
I had preached on the Fast Day appointed with 
reference to the assassination of President Lin- 
coln, one of these gentlemen came to me and said 
the other was greatly offended, because I had not 
sufficiently eulogized the president, but for his 
part he thought I had commended him too much, 
for he did not regard President Lincoln as stern 
enough for the times and doubted whether his 
taking away was not a blessing in disguise. 

In the Central Church, of which I was then 
pastor, the trustees were almost equally divided, 
and among them were found extreme men on 
both sides. I trembled at every meeting of the 
board, for, knowing the strength of their feelings, 
I did not see how collisions could be avoided. 
Sometimes when they met allusion would be 
made to the war, for it was hard always to avoid 
all mention of it, but when the fire would begin 
to burn and their eyes begin to sparkle, they 
would say to each other : " We will fight this out 
at the ballot box and on the field, but we are here 
to look out for the interest of this church," and 
through God's abounding grace to his servants 
there was never once an angry collision. 

Pastors in those days could not be partisans. I 
made up my mind from the outset that the issues 
involved did not touch Christian character. 1 
knew the men on both sides and knew them 
alilve to be God-fearing, men. All recognized 
their obligation to be in subjection to the poAvers 
that be. Their duties as Christians to civil gov- 



APPENDIX. 157 

ernment were held alike by both. The questions 
which divided them related to the proper theory 
of the government, the relations between the 
State and Federal authorities, and that was a 
political question pure and simple, and one 
which had divided the country from the forma- 
tion of the constitution. However, in the excite- 
ment of the hour, Christians might accuse each 
other of unchristian conduct because of their 
political differences, pastors could have no share 
in such accusations. They were all alike to them 
brethren beloved in the Lord. 

I was a member of the two General Assem- 
blies of 1866 and 1867, the one meeting in St. 
Louis and the other in Cincinnati. The war be- 
tween the States was then ended, but the w^ar in 
the Church raged as violently as ever. I have wit- 
nessed excited scenes in Assemblies since, but 
never any to compare with those two Assemblies. 
The most agitating questions, the declaration and 
testimony paper, and what shall be done with its 
signers, the strifes in the Synod of Kentucky, 
the proposed discipline of individuals in churches 
who had taken part in the Rebellion, questions 
which revived the passions of war times, came 
up before the Assembly. Letters and telegrams 
were poured into Baltimore often misrepresent- 
ing the acts of the Assembh^ and creating the 
wildest excitement. When I returned home 
from the Assembly of 1867, a conference of the 
brethren was held and it was proposed that I 
should deliver a public address explaining and 
vindicating the acts and deliberations of the As- 
sembly, so far as to show that whether ap- 



158 EIGHTY YEARS. 

proved of or not they furnished no just ground 
for a disruption of the Church. I objected most 
strenuously but it was urged something must be 
done to allay the present excitement or our 
churches would all go to pieces. As I had been 
a member of both Assemblies and an eye and 
ear witness of all that transpired it was said 
that I was the proper person to deliver the 
address. At last I yielded. When I told my 
wife what I had consented to do, she replied, 
" Well, we may begin to pack up, for no pastor 
can stay in Baltimore who undertakes to defend 
the action of the General Assembly." The meet- 
ing was called in the old Central Church, the larg- 
est in the city. The day was fixed and notice 
was widely circulated. At the appointed time 
an immense congregation gathered, all eager and 
agitated. For an hour and a half, an intolerable 
length in a sermon, I spoke, reading at length 
the precise words of the Assembly, vindicating 
where I could, and, where I could not, showing 
there was nothing to justify any one in leaving 
the Church. The reading of the exact words of 
the Assembly and explanations of the circum- 
stances under which they were delivered and the 
ends to be secured tended greatly to allay the 
excitement. Only two of our churches finally 
withdrew and while many in all the rest dis- 
sented from some of the acts of the Assembly 
they did not find in them a suflRcient ground for 
withdrawal. But the scars of the old conflict 
were slow in healing and for years, almost until 
to-day, tended to repress Presbyterian zeal and 
paralyze Presbyterian activity. 



CHUECH UNITY. 

In no respect has the progress of the Church 
during the last eighty years been so marked as 
in the direction of Church unity. Eighty years 
ago the several churches were not only isolated 
but antagonistic. Their chief care seemed to be 
to build high the separating walls and strengthen 
their defenses against each other. The great 
things in which they agreed were retired to the 
background. The minor things in which they 
differed were brought to the foreground. After 
the reaction which followed the great revival 
the pulpit became intensely controversial. As 
the controversies were between members of the 
same household they Avere often embittered as is 
proverbially the case with family quarrels. My 
early life w^as spent where almost the entire popu- 
lation were Presbyterians, but Presbyterians of 
different schools. In a little village of some 700 in- 
habitants there were four Presbyterian churches, 
Associate Eeformed, Seceder, Covenanter, and 
Presbyterian. The first three Psalm-singing 
churches were separated by minor and what 
seems to us infinitesimal differences. All united 
in arraigning the Presbyterian hymn singers as 
profaning an ordinance of Divine worship and 
being guilty of rank idolatry. Some four years 
ago on a visit to Mercer, I was invited to attend 

159 



160 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

a union meeting of all these churches. I sat in 
the pulpit along with the several pastors from 
which Afty years before I had been constantly 
proclaimed as an idolater and offerer of strange 
lire on God's altar. The churches that were so 
widely separated fifty years before now met and 
worshiped together and cooperated with each 
other in all good works. As I sat and looked 
over the assembly I seemed like one that 
dreamed. This is but one instance of the 
marked change which has taken place in the 
attitudes of the churches toward each other dur- 
ing the last fifty years. While each retains to- 
day its own view of truth, all hold that truth in 
love and rejoice to recognize their fellowship in 
Christ. 

Church unit}^ as a sentiment and an aspiration 
has always been enshrined in the inmost heart of 
God's people. They have gone through the ages 
uttering the old confession: ''I believe in the 
Holy Catholic Church." The songs which stir 
their deepest emotion are those which recognize 
the unity of the Church and their oneness in Christ 
— " The Church's one Foundation," " One Family 
we dwell in Ilim," " Blest be the Tie that Binds." 
The sentiment began to be formulated in thought 
and embodied in action on the revival of the mis- 
sionary" spirit some eighty ^^ears ago. When the 
Church realized her high mission to give the gos- 
pel to the world, and then looked around upon 
her multiplied divisions and saw how these para- 
lyzed her strength and wasted her resources, the 
necessity of union was universally recognized. 
The members of the several churches began to 



APPENDIX. 161 

meet together in Bible societies, and tract socie- 
ties and union societies of many names, to ac- 
complish the work which belonged to them in 
common. 

Local unions were succeeded by conventions 
and alliances of wider scope, and the bounds 
of brotherhood within the last fifty years 
have enlarged as never before since apostolic 
times. 

I was a member of the Evangelical Alliance 
which met in New York in 1872. It was a won- 
derful spectacle, unexampled in Christendom since 
the great ecumenical councils of the early Church. 
Men from the East and the West, and the North 
and the South, from all the continents and from 
the islands of the sea, of all races and tribes, and 
colors, and costumes, and languages, came to- 
gether, prayed and communed together, of the 
things touching the King. All gathered together 
in '' the unity of the Spirit " and " the bond of 
peace." I was a member of the Presbyterian 
Alliance which met in Philadelphia in 1880, and 
of the same body again when it met in London in 
1888. Members of all the Churches of the great 
Presbyterian body from all over the world, with 
all their multiplied diversities, came together day 
after day, as members of the same family, and sat 
down at the common Father's table. AH that I 
saw and felt at these meetings persuaded me at 
once of the practicability and desirability of a 
closer Christian union as a present duty, and the 
ultimate union of all the churches who profess 
the faith of Christ as the goal to be sought and 
surely won. 



162 EIGHTY YEARS. 

In the Presbyterian Church the cause of Church 
unity received a marked impulse at the General 
Assembly which met in Omaha in 1887. I was 
the moderator of that Assembly, and at the open- 
ing of the sessions one morning I was informed 
that a delegation from the Diocesan Convention 
of the Episcopal Church in Nebraska, then in ses- 
sion at Omaha, was present to present the frater- 
nal salutations of the Convention. All business 
was at once suspended, the delegation came for- 
Avard and the chairman, in eloquent brotherly 
words, breathing throughout the spirit of Christ, 
presented the salutations of the Convention. 
The moderator replied, reciprocating the broth- 
erly feelings expressed, then stepped forward on 
the platform, reached out his hand to the speaker, 
and they stood together before the entire Assem- 
bly extending to each other the right hand of fel- 
lowship, representatives of the two great historic 
English Churches, once so closely united and now 
so widely separated. The entire Assembly was 
moved at the sight, and all hearts for the time 
were one. 

This scene prepared the way for another that 
followed on a subsequent day. A communication 
was received alid read from the Commission on 
Christian Unity of the General Convention of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, addressed " To the 
Secretary of the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church, Omaha, Nebraska." The letter 
transmitted a declaration put forth by the House 
of Bishops on the subject of Christian unity, and 
the action of the Convention in the appointment 
of a commission under that action. The declara- 



APPENDIX. 163 

tion of the House of Bishops after a historical 
preamble, goes on : 

Xow, therefore, we Bishops of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States of Amer- 
ica, in council assembled as Bishops of the Church 
of God, do hereby solemnly declare, to all whom 
it may concern, and especially to our fellow- 
Christians of the different communions in this 
land, who, in their several spheres, have con- 
tended for the religion of Christ. 

1. Our earnest desire that the Saviour's prayer 
" that we all may be one," may, in its deepest 
and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled. 

2. That we believe that all who have been 
duly baptized with water in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
are members of the Holy Catholic Church. 

3. That in all things of human ordering or 
human choice relating to modes of worship and 
discipline, or to traditionjal customs, this Church 
is ready in the spirit of love and humility to 
forego all preferences of her own. 

4. That this Church does not seek to absorb 
other Communions, but rather, cooperating with 
them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, 
to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds 
of the Body of Christ, and to promote the 
charity which is the chief of Christian graces 
and the visible manifestation of Christ to the 
world. 

But^ furthermore : We do hereby aflBrm that 
the Christian unity now so earnestly desired by 
the memorialists, oan be restored only by the re- 



164 EIGHTY YEARS. 

turn of all Christian Communions to the princi- 
ples of unity exemplified by the undivided Cath- 
olic Church during the first ages of its existence, 
which principles we believe to be the substantial 
Deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed 
by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto 
the end of the world, and therefore incapable of 
compromise or surrender by those w^ho have been 
ordained to be its Stewards and Trustees, for the 
common and equal benefit of all men. 

As inherent parts of this sacred Deposit, and, 
therefore, as essential to the restoration of unity 
among the divided branches of Christendom, we 
account the following, to wit : 

I. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and 'Ne^y 
Testament as the Eevealed Word of God ; 

II. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient state- 
ment of the Christian Faith ; 

III. The Two Sacraments — Baptism and the 
Supper of the Lord — ministered with unfailing 
use of Christ's words of institution, and of the 
elements ordained by him. 

IV. The Historic Episcopate, locall}^ adapted 
in the methods of its administration to the vary- 
ing needs of the nations and peoples called of 
God into the unity of* his Church ; 

FurtJierinore : Deepl}^ grieved by the sad di- 
visions which afflict the Christian Church in our 
own land, we hereby declare our desire and readi- 
ness, so soon as there shall be any authorized 
response to this declaration, to enter into broth- 
erly conference with all or any Christian bodies 
seeking the restoration of the organic unity of 
the Church, with a view to the earnest study of 



APPEIS^DIX. 165 

the conditions under which so priceless a blessing 
might happily be brought to pass. 
A true and official copy. 
Attest : 

Hermax C. Du]s^ca:n', 
Secretary of Commission. 

The accompanying paper was as follows : 

Eesolutioist as Adopted by the Co:s^curkent 

ACTIOISr OF THE HoUSE OF BiSHOPS AND OF 

THE House of Deputies of the Geis^eral 
Convention, Convened in the City of 
Chicago, October 27, 1886. 

Besolved^ That a Commission consisting of 
five Bishops, five Clerical and five Lay Deputies 
be appointed, who shall, at their discretion, com- 
municate to the organized Christian bodies of our 
country the declaration set forth by the Bishops 
on the twentieth day of October, and shall hold 
themselves ready to enter into brotherly confer- 
ence with all or any Christian bodies seeking the 
restoration of the organic unity of the Church ; 
and that this Commission be requested to make a 
report of its action to the General Convention of 
1889. 

Under this resolution the following appoint- 
ments were made : 

The Et. Eev. Alfred Lee, D. D., LL. D., Bishop 
OT I )f^ I ci Wri rf-^ 

The Et. Ker. John Williams, S. T. D., LL. D., 
Bishop of Connecticut. 



166 EIGHTY YEARS. 

The Et. Eev. Eichard Hooker Wilmer, D. D., 
LL. D., Bishop of Alabama. 

The Et. Eev. Abram Newkirk Littlejohn, D.D., 
LL. D., Bishop of Long Island. 

The Et. Eev. Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe, 
D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. 

The Eev. George Morgan Hills, D. D., Burling- 
ton, ]sr. J. 

The Eev. Stephen Moylen Bird, Galveston, Tex. 

The Eev. Kinloch Kelson, D.D., Theological 
Seminary, Virginia. 

The Eev. Herman Cope Duncan, Alexandria, 
La. 

The Eev. Arthur Wilde Little, Portland, Me. 

George C. Shattuck, M. D., Boston, Mass. 

William Cornwall, Louisville, Ky. 

James Murdock Smith, LL. D., Buffalo, N. Y. 

Henry P. Baldwin, Detroit, Mich. 

John H. Stotsenburg, New Albany, Ind. 

The Commission is organized with the Et. Eev. 
the Bishop of Delaware as Chairman, and the 
Eev. Herman C. Duncan as Eecording and Cor- 
responding Secretary. 

Action of the Genekal Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in the IT. S. A., 

1887. 

[Minutes, pp. 133, 134.] 

The Assembly resolved in the matter of the 
Declaration of the House of Bishops of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church : 

" 1. That the statement of principles em- 
bodied in the Eeport of the Committee on Bills 



APPENDIX. 167 

and Overtures be published in the Appendix to 
the Mhiutes of this Assembly, as a clear presen- 
tation of the position of the Presbyterian Church 
on Church union and unity. 

" 2. That in response to the fraternal request 
of the Commission of our Protestant Episcopal 
brethren, a Committee of eight ministers and 
seven ruling elders be appointed to enter into 
brotherly conference with the Commission, and 
with any similar commissions or committees that 
may be appointed by other Christian bodies, with 
a view to the earnest study of the relations of 
the different Churches, and of the way m which 
the answer to the Eedeemer's prayer, ' that they 
all may be one,' may be realized and manifested ; 
said Committee to report to the next General 
Assembly. 

'^ 3. That the following letter be adopted by 
the General Assembly, signed by the Moderator 
and Stated Clerk, and forwarded to the Secretary 
of the Protestant Episcopal Commission." 

A true copy. 

William Hekry Eoberts, 

Stated Clerk. 

Eespo]s^se of the Gein-eral Assembly op 
THE Presbyterian Church y^ the U. S. 
A., 1887. 

To the Commission on Christian Unity of the 
House of Bishops and of the House of Depu- 
ties of the General Convention of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Churchy convened in the City 
of Chicago, October 27, 1886 : 

Dear Brethren: The General Assembly 



168 EIGHTY YEARS. 

of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
of America, now in session at Omaha, Neb., have 
received with sincere gratification the '' Declara- 
tion " of your House of Bisliops, and your re- 
quest, under it, for a brotherly conference with 
us and other branches of the Church of Christ, 
" seeking the restoration of the organic unity of 
the Church, with a view to the earnest study of 
the conditions under which so priceless a blessing 
might happily be brought to pass." 

The General Assembly are in cordial sympathy 
with the growing desire among the Evangelical 
Christian Churches for practical unity and co- 
operation in the work of spreading the Gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ throughout all the earth, 
and they respond to your invitation with the sin- 
cere desire that the conference asked for may 
lead, if not to a formal oneness of organization, 
yet to such a vital and essential unity of faith 
and spirit and cooperation as shall bring all the 
followers of our common Lord into hearty fellow- 
ship, and to mutual recognition and affection, and 
to ministerial reciprocity, in the branches of the 
one visible Church of Christ, working together 
with him in advancing his kingdom upon earth. 

Without entering here into consideration of 
any of the principles which your House of 
Bishops lay down " as essential to the restoration 
of unity among the divided branches of Christen- 
dom,'' but leaving the consideration of them to 
the conference which you request, the General 
Assembly have appointed, 3f misters — Joseph T. 
Smith, D. D., Eobert M. Patterson, D, D., David 
C. Marquis, D. D., William Henry Green, D. D., 



appe:n^dix. 169 

LL.D., Samuel J. Niccolls, D.D., William II. 
Eoberts, D. D., Francis Brown, D. D., Eansom B. 
AVeich, D. D.J with Hiding Elders — Hon. James 
A. Beaver, Plon. Cyrus L. Pershing, Hon. Kobert 
N. Willson, William E. Dodge, Hon. Samuel M. 
Breckinridge, Dr. William C. Gray and E. R. 
Monfort, LL. D., a committee to confer with you 
and with any similar commissions or committees 
that may be appointed by any other Christian 
Churches for conference, with instructions to re- 
port to the next General Assembly the results of 
their deliberations. 

Very truly and fraternally yours, 

Joseph T. Smith, Moderator. 

William H. Egberts, Stated Cleric. 

These papers present clearly the end to be se- 
cured by the conferences, the basis on which they 
were to proceed, and the method of brotherly 
conference by which they were to be conducted. 
Space will not allow us to give the long corre- 
spondence which follows during some seven 
years. In addition to the letters which passed, 
three oral conferences were held between the 
committee and the commission, the first in the 
house of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, in New York ; 
the second, in the rooms of Emanuel Church in 
Baltimore; and the third, in the rooms of the 
Church of the Covenant, in Washington, D. C. 
All the meetings held were entirely harmonious. 
Not a word or an incident occurred which inter- 
rupted the unity of the Spirit. The very fact 
that the representatives of the two great historic 
churches for so many years could meet together 



170 EIGHTY YEARS. 

in the spirit of brotherly love, was in itself a 
most inspiring spectacle. The General Assembly 
of 1894 took action which the Episcopal com- 
mission regarded as an expression of the desire, 
on its part, that the negotiations should be sus- 
pended, and it was finally agreed upon both sides 
that they should be suspended for the present, 
but both the committee and the commission in 
their final letters expressed the earnest desire 
and confident hope that the negotiations under 
more favorable auspices would be resumed, and^ 
the consummation which both so earnestly wished 
be attained. 



FEDEEATION OF PEESBYTEKIAN' 
CHUKCHES. 

The committee on Church unity, in addition 
to its conference with the Protestant Episcopal 
Church was authorized to enter into brotherly 
correspondence with any similar committees, on 
the same general subject. Correspondence was 
opened with representatives of many other 
churches throughout the land ; as the result of 
which it was determined at last to attempt a 
federation of all the Presbyterian churches. 
The matter was reported to the General As- 
sembly, they sanctioned the movement and au- 
thorized the committee to continue the corre- 
spondence. Conferences with some of the leading 
members of different Presbyterian bodies were 
held. A subcommittee was appointed to draft 
the plan of a federation of the different Presby- 
terian churches. The subcommittee consisted 
of the Eev. Dr. R. M. Patterson, Presbyterian, 
the Eev. Dr. Debaum, Eeformed, and the Eev. 
Dr. Eeed, United Presbyterian. At the call 
of the subcommittee the joint committee met 
in conference at the Mission Eooms, New York, 
on the 25th of April. At this conference the 
following bodies were represented : The Pres- 
byterian Church in the U. S. A., Eeformed 
Church in America, Eeformed Presbyterian 
Church General Synod, United Presbyterian 

171 



172 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Church, and Associate Reformed Sj^nod in the 
South. The draft of a plan of federation Avas 
presented by the committee appointed for the 
purpose and after discussion and slight amend- 
ment was adopted, and copies were ordered sent 
to the several bodies represented. It is as fol- 
lows : 

PLAN OF FEDERATIO]^. 

For the glory of God, and for the greater 
unity and the advancement of the Church of 
which the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head, the 
following articles of Constitution and Federal 
Union between the Reformed Churches in the 
United States holding the Presbyterian system 
are recommended for adoption : 

1. Every denomination entering into this 
Union shall retain its distinct individuality, as 
well as every power, jurisdiction, and right which 
is not by this Constitution expressly delegated to 
the body hereby constituted. 

2. Full faith and credit shall be given by all 
of these denominations to the acts, proceedings, 
and records of the duly constituted authorities 
of the other denominations. 

3. For the prosecution of work that can be 
better done in union than separately an Ecclesias- 
tical Assembly is hereby constituted, which shall 
be known by the name and style of The Federal 
Council of the Reformed Churches in the United 
States of America holding to the Presbyterian 
system. 

4. The Federal Council shall consist of four 
ministers and four elders from each of the con- 



APPENDIX. ^ 173 

stituent denominations, who shall be chosen, 
with alternates, under the direction of their re- 
spective General Assemblies or General Synods, 
in such manner as those Assemblies or Synods 
shall respectively determine. 

5. The Federal Council shall endeavor to pro- 
mote united work for the reclamation of the 
Christless masses in the large cities, towns, and 
old rural settlements of the country ; cooperation 
in Home Missionary work by the different de- 
nominations in the new settlements and among 
the Freedmen of the South, in such a way as to 
remove denominational friction and prevent the 
multiplication, of weak and antagonistic organiza- 
tions where unnecessary ; and the prosecution of 
the Foreign Missionary work by the different 
denominations on the same principle of comity, 
so that different denominations shall cultivate 
particular fields. 

It shall also keep a watchful eye on current 
religious, moral, and social movements, and take 
such action as may concentrate the influence of 
all the churches for the preservation of their re- 
ligious inheritance and the maintenance of their 
fundamental principles. 

6. The Federal Council may advise and rec- 
ommend in all matters pertaining to the general 
welfare of the Kingdom of Christ, but shall not 
exercise authority, except such as is conferred 
upon it by this instrument, or such as may be 
conferred upon it by the federated bodies. It 
shall not interfere with the creed, worship, or 
government of the denominations. All matters 
of discipline shall be left to the exclusive and 



174 EIGHTY YEARS. 

final judgment of the ecclesiastical autliorities of 
the denomination in which the same may arise. 

7. The Federal Council shall have the power 
of opening and maintaining a friendly corre- 
spondence with the highest Assemblies of other 
religious denominations, for the purpose of pro- 
moting union and concert of action in general or 
common interests. 

8. All differences which may arise among the 
federated bodies, or any of them, in regard to 
matters within the jurisdiction of the Federal 
Council shall be determined by such executive 
agencies as may be created by the Federal 
Council, with the right of appeal to the Federal 
Council for final adjudication. 

9. The officers of the Federal Council shall 
be a President, Vice President, Clerk and Treas- 
urer. 

10. The Federal Council shall meet annually, 
at such time and place as may be determined. 

11. The contingent expenses of the Federal 
Council shall be divided equally between the 
denominations. 

12. Amendments to this Constitution may be 
proposed by the Federal Council or by any of 
the General jissemblies or General Synods, but 
the concurrent action of the General Assemblies 
and General Synods shall be necessary for their 
adoption. 

This is now reported by your Committee as a 
tentative and suggestive Plan, for the informa- 
tion of the General Assembly, in the hope that 
the Assembly will be gratified at the progress 
which the movement has made. Your Commit- 



APPENDIX. 175 

tee recommends that it be authorized to continue 
its Conferences with Committees of other Pres- 
byterian and Reformed Churches, in order to 
perfect the Plan and report it for final action. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Joseph T. Smith, Chairman. 
Francis Brown, Secretary. 
In the Committee on Church Unity. 
Washington, D. C, May 19, 1893. 

PLAN OF FEDEEATION. 

The plan here proposed is typical of Church 
unity, both in its result and its method. These 
eight churches were widely separated by race, 
by nationality, by traditions, and prejudices, and 
long and often embittered controversies. There 
were found among them all types of Calvin- 
ism, from the higiiest to the lowest. Varied 
rites and forms of worship, from bald simplic- 
ity to liturgical adornments. Diverse theories of 
church polity, from the High Church Jure Di- 
Aano, intolerant and exclusive Presbyterianism, to 
the Low Church Presbyterianism, w-hich ''em- 
braces in the spirit of charity those Christians 
who differ from us in opinion and practice on 
these subjects." Yet with all their seemingly 
irreconcilable diversities of race, and culture, and 
creed, and forms of worship, and theories of gov- 
ernment, their representatives agree to unite. 
The proposed union is a real union, '' the gathering 
of many into one." It is not mere cooperation 
on the one side, nor is it absolute consolidation 
on the other. It is a federal union. The kind 



176 EIGHTY YEARS. 

of unity we see exemplified in all departments of 
organic life, the one vine with its many branches, 
the one body with its many members, the one 
society with its many officers and administra- 
tions. It is the kind of union made familiar to 
us by our civil constitution, the one nation with 
its many states, the strength of all combined in 
the nation for ends common to all. The liberties 
and interests of each secured to the states for 
ends peculiar to each. It is unity without uni- 
formity, — unity with allowed and guaranteed 
diversities, the only kind of unity which at once 
combines the strength of all and guards the lib- 
erties of each. The federation principle, Avhich 
has attained such wide application in these last 
days, has solved some of the most perplexing 
problems of statesmanship. It is the mediating 
principle between despotism and anarchy, and 
the service it has done to the State it stands 
ready to do to the Church. In the plan pro- 
posed, the eight churches are united in the Fed- 
eral Council, analogous to the general govern- 
ment, whose powers are expressly defined. Under 
this the several churches, like the states, have 
their autonomy secured by express constitutional 
provision. The plan was unanimously adopted 
by the representatives of the several churches, 
and this fact in itself gave ample assurance of 
the practicability of federation. It had been 
strange indeed if it had not encountered objec- 
tions, criticisms and oppositions. The hardest 
work either God or man ever undertakes is that 
of making peace. To bring it down to earth the 
Eternal Son must stoop from his throne and die 



APPENDIX. 177 

upon the cross, " So by the blood of his cross 
making peace," and nothing less than that cross 
could make peace between God and man, and 
peace between man and man. The Assembly 
heartily approved of the movement toward a 
federation of Presbyterian Churches. The com- 
mittee were authorized to continue the confer- 
ences commenced, and mature, if possible, a plan 
of federation. 

In reporting to the Assembly, the committee 
say : '* This is now reported by your committee 
as a tentative and suggestive plan for the infor- 
mation of the General Assembly, in the hope 
that the Assembly will be gratified at the prog- 
ress that the movement has made," The com- 
mittee Avere directed by the Assembly to con- 
tinue their conferences with the committees of 
other Presbyterian Churches in order to perfect 
the plan and report it for final action. The com- 
mittee, under this direction of the General As- 
sembly, invited the representatives of the several 
churciies to meet them in conferences which ex- 
tended over several years. The plan of federa- 
tion which was framed under the direction of 
the Assembly was sent dow^n to the Presbyteries 
for their information and advice. Modifications^ 
of the plan were proposed in several particulars, 
and while these were under discussion at the 
closing hour of an exhausting session of the As- 
sembly, a brother rose and moved to lay the 
whole subject on the table. On such a motion, 
at such a time, there was no opportunity for ex- 
planation or remonstrance. The committee had 
done precisely w^hat the Assembly had directed 



178 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

them to do in preparing and submitting to the 
Assembly the proposed plan of federation. On 
their invitation the representatives of the other 
churches had all agreed to present the plan to 
the highest authority in their respective churches. 
The committee were greatly embarrassed in their 
attempts to reconcile them to what seemed a 
discourtesy, but the action of the Assembly not 
only put a stop to the movement in our own 
church but in all the other churches. 

I do not regard the seven years spent in this 
service as lost. They were indeed laborious 
years. The correspondence they required would 
fill volumes, but there is no part of my life on 
which I look back with such pleasure and no 
work in Avhich I have been permitted to engage 
as of such transcendent importance. The day 
will surely come Avhen Church unity will be real- 
ized. There may still be oppositions, delays and 
hindrances, but though the promise tarry, it will 
surely come, and we will wait for it in the pa- 
tience of hope. The great Intercessor still 
lives, and his prayer will surely be answered, 
" That they all may be one." The faith of the 
Church in " the Holy Catholic Church " will 
surely be turned into vision. The times when 
these questions of Church unity and federation 
Avere before the Assembly were very unfavorable 
for securing their full and unimpassioned consid- 
eration. During those years the body was occu- 
pied and agitated with questions relating to the 
revision of the Confession, with trials for heresy, 
and with disturbing questions as to the conduct 
of the theological seminaries. Now that these 



APPENDIX. 1Y9 

disturbing questions are settled, it might be that 
the conferences, if still continued, Avould secure 
more unembarrassed consideration. The friend- 
ships formed, the hours of delightful communion 
enjoyed with the members of the Commission, 
both individually and collectively, the reception 
given me as the representative of the Presby- 
terian Church by the House of Bishops and the 
House of Deputies at the meeting of the General 
Convention in Minneapolis are among the most 
cherished and hallowed memories of a long life. 



SEEMOK 

BY EEV. JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D., LL. D., 

OK HIS EIGHTIETH BIETHDAY. 



We are assembled here at this unusual hour on 
an unusual occasion. The Presbytery to which 
we belong has invited you here to listen to the 
words of an old man of eighty who to-day has 
just reached that goal, so far on in the journey 
of life and so near to its solemn end. 

It was my first thought to devote this discourse 
to personal experiences and reminiscences of the 
men and ministers I have known, and of the 
churches with whose history I have been con- 
versant for the last half century. It was con- 
cluded, however, to leave these experiences and 
reminiscences for a book, which will afford ampler 
space, and to give this hour to a rapid review of 
some of the principal events of the last eighty 
years. Those years have been crowded with 
most momentous events, and the nineteenth cen- 
tury will be forever memorable in history for the 
mighty changes it has wrought on the face of 
nature and in the structure of human society. 

I have chosen as a text singularly appropri- 
ate to the occasion the words of Mordecai to 
Queen Esther in a momentous crisis of the king- 

180 



APPEISTDIX. 181 

dom. Esther iv. 14. ''Who knoweth whether 
thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as 
this?" 

After the manner of the Old Testament the 
text embodies a general truth in a specific exam- 
ple, and teaches a universal duty by the object 
lesson of a particular incident. Passing by the 
details of the history, let us take up the great 
truth which lies on its surface — opportunities 
make duties, and Ave are debtors to the times in 
which we live to understand their significance 
that so we may adjust our conduct to their re- 
quirements. 

In trying to understand the true significance 
of our time we are not left like the secular sci- 
entists and historians to grope our way unaided 
through a tangled and threadless labyrinth. The 
inspired "Word has mapped out for us the course 
of events through all the ages and set up land- 
marks all along the waj^, so that we may know 
not only whence Ave have come, but Avhither Ave 
are going. Prophecy and ProAddence thus be- 
come mutual interpreters, and Ave look out upon 
passing events not only in the light of the past, 
but in the clearer light of the future, to Avhich 
they are tending. 

From among the events of the last eighty years 
Ave select only those Avhich are palpable and 
familiar, seen and read of all men, changes on 
the physical surface of the earth, increased facil- 
ities of intercourse, improvements in the indus- 
trial arts, and advancement in all the outAvard 
appliances of advancing civilization. In such 
events as these, outAvard and material as they 



182 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

are, we shall read the forewriting of prophecy 
and see the finger of God palpably preparing the 
way for the coining of that spiritual kingdom 
which is to overspread the whole earth. 

"We notice, 

First, The opening of highways. 

The building of roads occupies a large space in 
the inspired visions of these last days. " I will 
make all my mountains a way and my highways 
shall be exalted." "• Cast up, cast up the high- 
ways, gather up the stones thereof and make in 
the desert a highway for our God." 

Along these highways, when built, " men from 
the North, and the West and the land of Sinim, 
shall go to and fro and all nations shall flow to- 
gether." And along these highways, wherever 
they go, as in the opening of a stream in the des- 
ert, life and greenness and beauty will spring up, 
"and the desert and the solitary place shall blos- 
som as the rose." 

How exactly the events of the last eighty years 
answer to these prophetic visions of three thou- 
sand years ago. When this wilderness continent 
was to be transformed into a garden, the first 
necessity was to build roads reaching out to the 
treasures of forests, fields and mines, along which 
travelers might pass to and fro, and the ox and 
the horse drag their heavy burdens slowly along. 
The great Builder in fitting it up for man's habi- 
tation, had opened broader highways than these 
in the majestic rivers, which everywhere flow 
down from the mountains to the sea. Within 
these last eighty years we have seen these all 
linked together by artificial rivers affording 



APPENDIX. 183 

waterwaj^s of easier transportation in every direc- 
tion. Tliat was a memorable day in 1825, when 
the Erie Canal was opened, joining the Great Lakes 
to the Atlantic, turning the wilderness of West- 
ern New York into a garden, and pouring the 
treasures of the great West into the warehouses 
of the great metropolis. 

But roads and canals were too cumbrous and 
too slow for the exigencies of the last days, and, 
within the last fifty years, we have seen highways 
cast up strong as iron, smooth as glass, whirling 
their steam-yoked cars along almost with the 
rapidity of the eagle's flight. Railroads are but 
things of yesterday, yet Ave have grown already 
so familiar with the spectacle that we have almost 
ceased to wonder. It was not till about 1830 
that the building of that great network of rail- 
roads which now covers the continent was 
fairly commenced. The Baltimore and Ohio, 
the first interstate railroad projected, was slowly 
drawn out to the base of the AUeghenies. It 
had been proved by figures that no locomotive 
could cross the mountains, but the impossible 
was at last achieved, and the AUeghenies were 
passed. From their western base iron high- 
Avays branching off in every direction as they 
advanced, reached at last the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi, and here all further progress was ar- 
rested, for just beyond was the great American 
desert of our boyhood maps. There were vast 
plains and prairies, the home of the buffalo and 
of wild beasts and wilder men, and beyond was 
the vast desert, more terrible than the simoon- 
swept Sahara, or the great and terrible wilder- 



184 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ness of the wanderings, and still beyond were 
the Eocky Mountains towering to the clouds 
and interposing an impassable barrier of rock 
and ice. But again the impossible was achieved 
and the Atlantic was joined to the Pacific. 
That was a day never to be forgotten in 1869, 
when the last spike was driven into the inter- 
oceanic railroad. Machiner}^ had been so ad- 
justed that every stroke of the hammer was 
repeated by the tick of the telegraph in every 
direction, and when the last stroke was heard, 
booming cannon and ringing bells, and shouts of 
multitudes in all the villages and cities of the 
land hailed the great achievement. Fifty years 
ago there was not a railroad west of the AUe- 
ghenies. To-day they cover the continent in 
every direction, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. The 
prophetic vision is fulfilled. Mountains are made 
a way, and valleys are exalted, and in the desert 
a highway is made for our God. Wherever the 
railroad goes, hamlets, and towns, and cities 
spring up along its side and the song of reapers, 
and the hum of machinery, and music of church 
bells is heard, and the desert and the solitary 
place rejoice. 

And not on this continent alone, but these high- 
ways are beginning to engirdle the whole earth. 
Already they span the entire continent of Europe ; 
already they have invaded Asia, waking the 
slumbering millions of China, and India, and 
Japan into new life ; already they have passed 
over into the Dark Continent, traversing the sandy 
desert from the Nile to the Red Sea, and waking 



APPENDIX. 185 

the slumbering echoes of the Congo Yalley. 
Mountains and deserts are no longer prison Avails, 
and all barriers to intercourse have disappeared 
from the land. Across the sea, indeed, no high- 
way could be built, but we have seen it in these 
last days almost bridged. Look at Paul as he 
started out in his mission around the world in his 
little rude, uncorapassed ship, stealing closely 
along the shores of the Mediterranean, and look- 
ing out upon the trackless waters of the Great Sea 
beyond, over which no pilot could guide his bark. 
Then look at the modern missionary as he em- 
barks in a majestic steamship, strong to defy 
winds and waves, with its pilot compass with fixed 
finger guiding its course across the widest oceans. 

Columbus wrote in his first letter from the 
New AVorld to Queen Isabella ''The earth is 
small, much smaller than I supposed." Ever 
since it has been growing smaller, until to-day 
it is contracted almost to a span. All barriers 
to intercourse on the land have been surmounted, 
and the wide seas have been converted into great 
highways of travel and commerce. The nations 
of the earth are beginning to gather together as 
one family around one fireside. Christendom 
stands face to face with heathendom, and a high- 
way is made for our God, broader and stronger 
than those old Koman roads along which the 
first heralds of the gospel carried the glad tid- 
ings to the nations. 

We pass to a second event. 

Second, The casting down of thrones. 

" I beheld," says the seer in his sublime vision 
of the last days, " till the thrones were cast down, 



186 EIGHTY YEARS. 

and the Ancient of days did sit." Thrones, — im- 
perial thrones, kingly thrones, feudal thrones, 
priestly thrones, despotic thrones of every name, 
— how these have filled the whole earth, resting 
as a deadly incubus upon the nations, crushing 
individuals into masses, and converting men into 
serfs and chattels ! Society, instead of being the 
friend and helper, has been the deadliest enemy 
of man. Rulers, instead of being " like the light 
of the morning when the sun riseth, even a 
morning without clouds," have been baleful me- 
teors blazing through the sky scattering blight 
and desolation on every side. 

It is a strange history, that of thrones; and the 
Bible gives us their genesis. They were founded 
by Nimrod, the mighty hunter, while the earth 
was yet wet with the waters of the deluge. AVhen 
he had built Babylon and Nineveh, the first cit- 
ies, he laid in them the foundations of those gi- 
gantic despotisms which in long succession cursed 
the earth for so many ages. Under them there 
were no men, but only masses, masses of blood, 
and bone, and brain, and muscle, welded into a 
single machine and wielded by a single despotic 
w^ill. What a terrible picture the prophet gives 
us of the last of these great world empires : " It 
Avas dreadful, terrible and strong exceedingly, 
devouring, breaking in pieces and stamping the 
residue with the feet thereof." When the 
Eoman empire was shattered into fragments, 
rude, blood-stained robber chiefs from the frozen 
!North set up their mimic thrones on its ruins. 
They too, like the old despots, proclaimed them- 
selves gods, ruling over men by divine right, 



APPENDIX. 187 

lords at once of their bodies and their souls. 
Strange that men should so renounce their man- 
hood, and crawl cringing and crouching at the 
feet of a mortal weak as themselves. 

Not always have they bowed willingly to the 
yoke of their masters. History is largely made 
up of the bloody stories of revolts, rebellions, 
revolutions, uprisings of the people to cast dov/n 
the thrones of tyrants. 

Never has there been such a casting down of 
thrones as in these last days. In the closing 
years of the last century, in France, the central 
kingdom of Europe, there was a great earth- 
quake, and the thrones of king, and lords, and 
priests, were leveled to the dust. The long op- 
pressed people rose up in their manhood and 
their might and proclaimed "liberty, equality 
and fraternity " throughout all the land to all 
the inhabitants thereof. Napoleon, at the head 
of his resistless legions, swept over Europe like a 
cyclone, leveling thrones, uncrowning kings, and 
sweeping the whole continent clear of the old 
tyrants of every name. True, nations long en- 
slaved, knew not yet how to be free, and kings 
attempted once more to rebuild their ruined 
thrones, but all in vain. " The divinity that 
hedges about a throne " is gone forever. We 
saw the people again in 1848, rising up in their 
might, and causing every throne in Europe to 
totter to its fall. How marvel ously popular* 
freedom has advanced within the last eighty 
years. At the beginning of this century there was 
not a constitutional government in any nation of 
Europe. To-day there is scarcely one without it. 



188 EIGHTY YEARS. 

It was in a little island of the sea, and by the 
late-born Anglo-Saxon, the battle of freedom 
was fought and Avon for the race. The Anglo- 
Saxon was born at Runnymede and his infant 
liberties were cradled in Magna Charta. The 
barons, after long and bloody conflicts, had 
wrested their liberty from the king, and then 
the serfs, after still longer and bloodier conflict, 
won their liberty from the barons, and the Eng- 
lish people at last were free. The kingly throne 
of Charles and the priestly throne of Laud were 
cast down together. A free Commonwealth, 
modeled after the pattern which God had given 
long before in the Jewish Commonwealth, was 
set up, and never again, struggle for it as they 
may, can the throne of a Stuart or the throne of 
a Laud, be set up in the fatherland. That little 
island was too small and too much cumbered 
with the rubbish and ruins of old abuses for the 
full development of the newly won freedom. A 
larger and broader, and cleaner theater was 
needed, and that God had prepared in a new 
world hidden away beyond the seas. When the 
fullness of time had come, the little Mayflower, 
like the Ark of the deluge, laden with the pre- 
cious freightage from which the new world was 
to be peopled, was guided to its shores, and the 
great Republic of the "West appeared. There 
thrones are things unknown ; the people are 
their own rulers and that strange thing appears 
on the earth " a government of the people, and 
for the people, and by the people." The pre- 
cious heritage of civil and religious liberty God 
has given to the Anglo-Saxon, not for himself, 



APPENDIX. 189 

but in trust for the world. Not for his own 
sake has God exalted him and given him the 
dominion in these last days. Of Israel of old, 
the greatest benefactor of the w^orld, it w^as said 
"a Syrian ready to perish was his father." The 
Anglo-Saxon's father was a grim savage, prowl- 
ing through Druid groves, stained all over with 
the blood of human sacrifice, and something of 
his old savagery he still retains, something of his 
old pride and masterfulness, something of his old 
contempt for inferior races and disregard of their 
interest. Too often in his treatment of them he 
has forgotten that while " it is excellent to have 
a giant's strength it is tyrannous to use it like a 
giant." But with all his faults, Grod has raised 
him up and anointed him to be the herald of 
popular freedom to benighted nations. Wher- 
ever he goes, — and where does he not go ? — up 
and down the earth, the blessings of Christian 
civilization attend his steps. 

To-day as we look abroad over the earth in 
what large portions of it are thrones of depotism 
utterly cast down \ How the masses are begin- 
ning to struggle up into living men ! How the 
individual soul, more precious than all the world, 
and so long lost in the mass, is beginning to rise 
up and make ready to meet the Lord of souls at 
his coming ! 

A. third event. 

Third, The increase of knowledge. 

"Many shall run to and fro and knowledge 
shall be increased." For long ages knowledge 
had been the inheritance of the chosen few. In 
all ages and in all lands the great multitude 



190 EIGHTY YEARS. 

have been ignorant, degraded, groveling in the 
mire of sensuality and sin, till the image of God 
scarce towered above the brute. In the last 
days the sun of knowledge will rise upon the 
long midnight of the world and scatter its dark- 
ness. The mass of minds so long a dead sea of 
sluggishness, will be stirred by strong winds into 
new life. The dynasty of mind will succeed to 
that of brute force, and the powder of knowledge 
will supersede the power of the sword. 

Has not this Scripture been fulfilled before 
our eyes, in the marvelous increase of knowledge 
in these last days ? The stars no longer weave 
their mazy dances and describe their lawless and 
fantastic motions through the sky. The astron- 
omer has followed them in their farthest wander- 
ings and tracked them to their remotest hiding 
places, resolved their nebulae, disentangled their 
milky ways, weighed their worlds in balances, 
and stretched his lines and measuring rods over 
the broad fields of space. The geologist, descend- 
ing deep down below the earth's surface, is grop- 
ing among its deep foundations and reading in its 
rocky archives its eventful history from the first 
beginning. The chemist, passing by the grosser 
forms of matter, is grasping after the subtler ele- 
ments of which masses are made and the spirit- 
like forces by which they are ruled. The biolo- 
gist is daring the more baffling problem of life 
and organism, and the socialist is attempting the 
still more baffling problem of corporate life and 
social organism. And so in every department 
of science and art. In the greater world of the 
telescope, and the smaller Avorld of the micro- 



APPEIN^DIX. 191 

scope, the area of knowledge has been enlarged 
in every direction. 

AYith this increase of knowledge has come its 
wider diffusion. Books are no longer laboriousl}^ 
written on parchment and locked up in monkish 
cells or scholastic cloisters ; they are flung off by 
steam presses with lightning-like rapidity and 
scattered around like autumn leaves or . morn- 
ing dewdrops. Papers, magazines, lyceums and 
common schools are carrying knowledge to 
the cottages of the poor and making it like air 
and sunlight, the common inheritance of the 
race. 

The knowledge of these last days so in- 
creased demanded a better organ of speech than 
the tongue and the steam-press, and a swifter 
post than the railroad. Within the last eighty 
years we have seen slender poles set up and 
along them an iron wire stretched as a highway 
through the air. Then the lightnings, the sAvift- 
est of messengers, were called down from the 
clouds, and the challenge of Job seems at last to 
be answered: ''Canst thou send out lightnings 
that they may go and return again, and say here 
we are ? " They did come and stand around as 
winged messengers, ready to convey man's mes- 
sages whithersoever he would. No poles could 
be set up along the sea, indeed, but a way was 
prepared for the lightning deep down beneath 
the track of the steamships and the highways of 
the sea monsters. The wide globe is engirdled, 
the ends of the earth are brought together, and 
thought at last has found a messenger swift as 
itself. 



192 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Even familiarity cannot altogether blind us to 
the more than magic wonder of the telegraph. 
Who can ever forget the emotions with which 
the first message from across the sea was re- 
ceived? Early one morning in 1869 a little 
company was seen on the Atlantic shore gath- 
ered around a weird-looking instrument, wait- 
ing, watching, listening, when suddenly there 
fell upon their ears from the other shore, three 
thousand miles away, these words " Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
toward men." Some two thousand j^ears before 
those same words, spoken by an angel from the 
sky, fell upon the ears of the wondering shepherds 
of Bethlehem, and now they are spoken again to 
those listeners on the seashore by an angel mes- 
senger scarce less spirit-like. 

How slowl}^, yet surely, man has been recover- 
ing his lost dominion over the earth ! The horse 
had long borne his burdens, and the dog kept 
watch over his folds. The screw and the lever 
had performed the work of his muscles, the 
winds had propelled his ships, and the tumbling 
waters had driven his machinery. But within 
the last fifty years he has laid his hand upon the 
lightnings and compelled electricity, the might- 
iest of all forces, the prime minister of Jehovah, 
to do his bidding, and with such a power at his 
command his lost dominion must be recovered. 
Once again, he will be proclaimed sovereign of 
earth and again his coronation hymn will be 
sung : " Thou hast made him a little lower than 
the angels, and hast crowned with glory and 
honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over 



APPENDIX. 193 

the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things 
under his feet." 

Iso\Y that the physical earth is being reno- 
vated, now that man is being emancipated and 
restored to the dignity of manhood, now that 
knowledge is increased, and everywhere dif- 
fused, the way of the Messiah is prepared and 
the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy 
and the Holy Ghost will surely and speedily be 
set up. How strangely then, reads the following 
sign of the last days : • 

Fourth, " In the last days perilous times shall 
come." And here is the inspired picture of those 
perilous times, 

'' Men shall be lovers of their own selves, cov- 
etous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient 
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural 
affection, truce breakers, false accusers, inconti- 
nent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures 
more than lovei^ of God ; having a form of god- 
liness, but denying the power thereof." 

Nowhere have material improvements and 
popular freedom and popular education and in- 
tellectual enlightenment reached such perfection 
as in this land of ours. And yet, shrink from it 
as Ave may, must we not recog-nize our own fea- 
tures in this picture of the last days? Look 
around you. What selfishness! What greed! 
What pride ! What incontinence I What faith- 
lessness I What bitter rivalries and competitions 
in trade where each is mindful of his own things ! 
What fierce conflicts between capital and labor, 
shaking the very foundations of society, corpora- 



194 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

tions and syndicates on the one side, arrayed 
against labor leagues and labor unions on the 
other ! What lawlessness ! What mob violence, 
threatening at times to bring back the reign of 
brute force ! What frauds at the ballot box, 
what corruption in city councils and state legis- 
latures ! What open revolts against all rightful 
authority, both human and divine ! a striving to 
convert men into a herd of wild beasts to be 
ruled by the strongest ! Agrarianism, commu- 
nism, nihilism, agnosticism, their name is legion ! 
What terrible scenes in assassinations, burnings, 
destructions they have already wrought, and 
what terrible things they threaten ! 

Tow^arrd the close of the last days, we are told, 
a mightier destroyer than any of these shall ap- 
pear. He is neither the despotic Csesar, nor the 
false prophet, nor the pope, but an Apollyon far 
mightier than they. His name is Antichrist and 
his distinctive mark is atheism. He denies '' both 
the Father and the Son '' and so denies the true 
God. He denies '4ns father's God and every 
God," banishes all supernatural beings from the 
world, says w4th the fool, ^' There is no God." 
Sages of old had often said that atheism is im- 
possible, and Cicero long ago declared that no 
nation or people was ever found w^ithout a god. 
But tow^arcl the close of the last century an entire 
nation Avas seen openly abjuring God and pro- 
claiming by solemn statute, '* There is no God." 
From France the deadly poison spread through 
the colleges and universities of Europe and 
America. Godless scientists, w^ith fell industry, 
labored to substitute brute matter, or blind force. 



appe:n"Dix. 195 

for the living God, banish all supernatural exist- 
ences and leave the Avorld orphaned indeed. 
From the high places of learning we have seen 
the infection spread through all classes of society. 
Popular lecturers, popular novels, magazines, re- 
views, the whole body of popular literature, was 
infected, and untold numbers say with the fool in 
their heart, " There is no God," and live without 
God in the world. Antichrist incarnate, personi- 
fied atheism has come. Godlessness, the denial 
of God, the forgetfulness of God, the living as if 
there were no God, practical atheism, is the 
grand characteristic of our age beyond all that 
has gone before. 

Popular education, intellectual culture, ma- 
terial advancement, all the boasted progress of 
the age, lea.ding on toward atheism and anarchy ! 
And if this be so, what hope remains for the 
race ? Is not the demonstration of the pessimist 
complete, that the end is utter ruin ? Yes, there 
is no hope for man in himself; no hope in ma- 
terial advancement and intellectual enlighten- 
ment. Help must come from without ; God must 
interpose or man is undone, and God does inter- 
pose. 

Here is the last sign of the last days : 

Fifth, '' It shall come to pass in the last days 
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." 

The Divine Spirit shall descend upon the 
troubled waters of human society as of old on 
the unformed chaos, and under his plastic influ- 
ence, the new heavens and new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness, shall appear. If history 
teaches any one lesson it is that there is no re- 



196 EIGHTY YEARS. 

cuperative power in humanity, that the highest 
intellectual enlightenment may be found in con- 
nection with the deepest moral and spiritual de- 
basement. Until man's moral nature is changed 
by the new creative power of the Divine Spirit, 
no matter what his environment, he will sink into 
lower and still lower depths of moral degrada- 
tion. Look at the Roman empire in its palmy 
days. The Augustine age of learning, the age of 
Yirgil, and Horace, and Seneca, and Cicero, the 
age which transformed Rome from a city of mud 
into a city of marble and filled it with temples, 
and palaces, and triumphal arches, and master- 
pieces of art. And yet it is of Rome, in that 
very Augustine age, the Apostle draws that fear- 
ful picture of moral debasement in the first 
chapter of Romans. What monsters of cruelty 
and lust were those old Roman emperors, the 
Caesars ! What nameless infamies, in the man- 
sions of the rich, as well as in the hovels of the 
poor ! How her Ovids, in mellifluous lines, glori- 
fied the basest of vices ; and her senators, openly 
and without shame, reveled in nameless deeds, 
which elsewhere shunned the light of day ! If 
no intellectual elevation surpassed that of the 
Augustine age, no moral degradation ever 
equaled it. It was in this gloomy midnight of 
the world, a little company were gathered in an 
upper room in Jerusalem, and the Spirit of the 
Lord descended upon them as a spirit of power. 
From that upper room they scattered abroad 
over the empire, ignorant and unlearned men, 
and wherever they went preaching Christ, idols 
tottered, superstitions vanished, and thrones fell 



APPEIS^DIX. 197 

down before them. Within three centuries the 
religion of Christ was proclaimed the religion of 
the empire. As the first triumphs of the gospel 
were ushered in by Pentecost, so also shall the 
last be. 

Has not the promised Pentecost already come 
in the signs and wonders of the earlier years of 
this century? My memory goes back to those 
days for their traditions were still fresh, their 
trophies were all around and something of their 
old power still remained. It was in an age of 
abounding worldliness and widespread immoral- 
ity. Dr. D wight has drawn a picture of the 
times dark almost as Paul's picture of the Ro- 
mans. It was in the midst of these evil days the 
Spirit was poured out from on high. It came 
suddenly upon the disciples as in the upper room. 
It rested upon them as a spirit of power. It 
came upon careless and impenitent souls as a 
spirit of conviction and the powers of the world 
to come took hold upon them. It fell upon the 
reapers in the field, upon the workman at his 
bench, upon the merchant in his counting room, 
upon the pastor in his study, upon the great con- 
gregation in the sanctuary. No walls could hold 
the multitudes that thirsted for the bread of life. 
They gathered for scores of miles around in the 
open fields, or in the tented grove, and there day 
after day, and night after night, the scenes of 
Pentecost were repeated. All over the East and 
still more signally over the West, in Western 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio and Tennessee, souls in 
uncounted numbers were born unto God. Almost 
every house became a Bethel. Christians were 



198 EIGHTY YEARS. 

revived and strengthened and lifted up into a 
higher plane in life. The missionary spirit was 
breathed into the Church. All our great mis- 
sionary societies had their origin in those re- 
vivals, and the Church roused from her long 
slumbers addressed herself at last to her great 
work the conversion of the world. 

And why is not the world converted ? God 
has gone before, broken down every barrier to 
the spread of the gospel. He has given to Chris- 
tian nations wealth, power, and all needful ap- 
pliances. He has furnished his Church with the 
ministry, oracles and ordinances, and appointed 
her as the herald of salvation to the world. He 
has given the promised Spirit to make all these 
effectuaL Why, then, we repeat it, is not the 
world converted ? There is only one ansAver to 
the question. The Church, the ordained institute 
of salvation, has proved unfaithful to her high 
mission. There is no unfaithfulness with God. 
He has given his Spirit in these last days, 
but his people have grieved him away by 
their worldliness, their carnality, and their 
self-seeking. The Church, by her strifes and 
divisions, has lost the spirit of charity, and 
flung away the badge of brotherly love by 
which she was to be known to the world. She 
has wasted her energies in internal strifes and 
consumed her resources in building up walls of 
separation from her brethren in Christ. "When 
the Church is one then will the great Mediator's 
prayer be fulfilled and the world will believe 
that thou hast sent me. The world Avill be con- 
verted when the Church is one. Dying souls all 



APPENDIX. 199 

around us, a dying world, is waiting for a united 
and consecrated Church. God, indeed, might 
have chosen other instrumentalities, or dispensed 
with all instrumentalities, but he has chosen the 
Church as the instrument of salvation and if that 
prove unfaithful all is lost. Faith cometh by 
hearing. How shall they hear without a preacher ? 
and how shall they preach except they be sent ? 
If God's silver and gold are kept back from his 
treasury how shall the heralds of salvation be 
sent abroad upon his errands. ''Eeturn unto 
me and I will return unto you," saith the Lord. 
'' Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, 
. . . and prove me now herewith, saith the 
Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows 
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that 
there shall not be room enough to receive it." 
"•'Awake, awake; . . . O Zion ; put on thy 
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, for . . . 
the Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the 
eyes of all the nations." 



A DISCOURSE 

Delivered May 22, 1859, by 

THE EEV. JOSEPH T. SMITH, 

Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, 

Baltimore, 

ON THE 

LIFE AI^D CHARACTER OF THE 

REV. HENRY Y. D. JOHNS, D. D., LATE 

RECTOR OF EMANUEL CHURCH, 

BALTIMORE. 

For 7n.e to live is Christy and to die is gain. — 
Phil. i. 21. 

These words were penned by the Apostle 
while a prisoner in Rome, and just upon the eve 
of his trial. They may be regarded as his last 
w^ords — the deliberate testimony of a Christian 
minister, uttered while standing upon the border- 
line between life and death, calmly surveying 
both. In writing to the Philippians, who seem 
to have been to him what the family of Bethany 
Avas to the Master, the Apostle admits them to the 
inmost secrecies of his soul in that solemn hour. 
He tells them how he is '' in a strait betwixt 
two '• — having " a desire to depart, and be with 
Christ," yet wishing still ''to abide with them 
in the flesh ; " longing for his rest and his reward, 
yet willing to labor and to suffer. And then, in 
the volume-embracing words of our text, he sums 

200 



APPENDIX. 201 

up his whole esthnate of those two tremendous 
facts, Life and Death. " For to me to live is 
Christ, and to die is gain." As if he had said, 
" I live, yet not I, but Clirist, who is my life, 
liveth in me ; and the life that I now live, I live 
by Faith in the Son of God. I live not unto my- 
self, but unto him who loved me, and gave himself 
for me. Christ is the beginning and the end ; the 
center and the circumference; the all in all of my 
being. I live for no selfish or secular end ; for 
nothing which men seek after, or the world 
can bestow. Accounting my life as but a season 
and an opportunity for doing good, I live only to 
labor for Christ, and to fill up what is behind of 
his sufferings, and I am willing to live for Christ. 
But ' to die is gain ' — infinite and everlasting 
gain. I shrink not from the approach of the last 
enemy, for to me Christ hath abolished Death, 
and put these words of triumph in my mouth : 
O ! Death, where is thy sting ? O ! Grave, where 
is thy victory ? The sting of Death is sin, and 
the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be 
ta God who giveth us the victory, through our 
Lord Jesus Clirist. And then Faith looks be- 
yond and above. Henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness. In my Father's 
house are many mansions, and Christ has gone 
before to prepare a place for me, and it will be 
gain for me to be at home — forever at home — 
with him." 

Our detailed exposition of the text will be 
found in the life and death of that man of God, 
who has just been removed from among us to 
join the great cloud of witnesses above. AVe un- 



202 EIGHTY YEARS. 

dertake this service as a feeble tribute to departed 
worth — as a new testimony to the grace of God 
toward his servants, in life and in death — and as 
a fresh incentive to renewed diligence in the duties 
of our high calling. It is not of the man we 
would speak, but of the disciple. It is not the 
man we would glorif\% but the grace of God 
which was " exceeding abundant " toward him. 
And our design in this service will be altogether 
frustrated if it do not redound to the praise of 
the glory of God's grace. 

The Rev. Henry Van Dyke Johns, D. D., was 
born in Newcastle, Delaware, on the 13th day of 
October, in the year of our Lord, 1803. He was the 
descendant of an old Maryland family, founded 
by Richard Johns, who emigrated from England 
and settled in Calvert County in 1717. He was 
the son of the late Judge Kensey Johns, and 
brother of the late Chancellor of Delaware, and 
of the present Bishop of Virginia. He inherited 
from his ancestors the richest of all legacies — the 
blessing entailed from father to son upon the 
generations of those who fear God. A child of 
the covenant, and sealed with the seal of the 
covenant in infancy, his character was formed 
and unfolded amidst the hallowed influences of a 
Christian home. 

His collegiate education was commenced at 
Princeton, while the college, under the Presi- 
dency of Dr. Green, was visited with that mem- 
orable revival which gave so many ministers to 
the Church, and baptized them with so large a 
measure of the Spirit. The subject of religious 
impressions from his earliest childhood, these 



APPEISTDIX. 203 

were deepened b}^ contact with the revival spirit, 
and especially by the ministrations of the late 
Dr. Archibald Alexander. The following inci- 
dent, connected Avith this period of his life, is 
from the pen of Dr. James W. Alexander. " The 
first person with whom I ever talked freely con- 
cerning the infinite concerns of my soul, was 
Henry V. D. Johns, and he has told me that a 
like remark was true of himself. It was in Nas- 
sau Hall, then the principal edifice of Princeton 
College, and in No. 27 in the 'second entry,' a 
locality fresh in the memory of old Nassorians. 
We were boys of sixteen, though I was about 
to commence Bachelor of Arts. Such conver- 
sations begin one scarcely knows how ; in a 
short time we had unbosomed ourselves to one 
another, and entered upon a close and tender 
friendship, which, I trust in God, is never to 
cease. During the days in which Henry was 
under the work of the law, and humbly doubting 
whether, indeed, he had attained to justification 
or not, he used to walk in the grove behind the 
college, which, alas, with other forest shades of 
my boyhood, has long since vanished away. As 
he strayed, musing, his eye was attracted by a 
small folded paper upon the ground ; this he 
picked up, and afterwards showed to me ; it con- 
tained these words : 'And they that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and 
lusts.' Gal. V. 24. 'Try yourself hy this,^ This 
incident made a deep impression on us both, con- 
veying to our apprehensions, at that time, some- 
thing of the supernatural. We have talked it over 
in later years, and there is reason to believe that 



204 EIGHTY YEARS. 

it had a molding influence on Johns^ experience 
and life." Under these blessed influences the 
seed, sown and watered through so many years, 
ripened in his heart into its glorious harvest. 
Here he received that baptism ot the Spirit which 
made him the evangelist he was. 

Partly from considerations of health, and partly 
from the disturbed state of the college during the 
last years of Dr. Green's administration, he re- 
moved from Princeton, and was graduated at 
Union, in 1823. Immediately after his gradua- 
tion he commenced his studies for the ministry, 
first with his brother, and then at the General 
Theological Seminary, New York. He was or- 
dained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church by the venerated Bishop White, in Eman- 
uel Church, Newcastle, Delaware, in 1826, and a 
Presbyter by Bishop Chase, in St. John's Church, 
Washington, D. C, in 1828. Soon after, he re- 
ceived an appointment as chaplain in the navy, 
and was assigned to the vessel which was to con- 
vey Lafayette back from his last visit to the 
United States to his native land. After prayer- 
ful deliberation, however, he was led to devote 
his life to the pastorate. And in a little unfur- 
nished hall, with a rude pine table for his pulpit, 
he gathered and organized his first church, now 
Trinity Church, in Washington. Thence he re- 
moved to Baltimore, and ministered, for a time, to 
old Trinity, under circumstances of great discour- 
agement. Thence he removed to Frederick, Md., 
and thence, after the lapse of five years, back to 
Baltimore, where he organized and served for a 
time St. Andrew's Church. This church being 



APPENDIX. 205 

weak and struggling with many embarrassments, 
lie Avas induced to accept a charge in Cincinnati, 
Avhere he labored Avith great acceptance until 
1842, when he was called to Christ Church, Bal- 
timore, to which he ministered until the organi- 
zation of Emanuel, in 1854, in the service of 
which he died. 

In asking me to sketch the character of this 
man of God, so as to give the proper relief to its 
more prominent features, you have called me to 
a task to which I feel myself inadequate. My 
personal relations to Dr. Johns have so endeared 
his memory, that I can speak of him only with 
the affectionate partiality of a son for a revered 
father. My personal intercourse with him was 
such, that his faults, whatever they were, were 
never discovered. The only portrait I can draw 
of him, truthfully, must be all in light ; you must 
supply the shades. 

I. Intellectually, he may be best character- 
ized, perhaps, by that expressive phrase, " a well 
balanced mind." His mental faculties, such as 
they were, were all in a state of happy equipoise. 
None were wanting, none were in excess, and all 
were blended into a structure, beautiful and sym- 
metrical as a Grecian temple. He had not Genius, 
but he had many and varied Talents. He was 
not the Palm, gathering all its riches into its 
tufted top, and lifting that up to the clouds, and 
out of reach; he was the humbler Olive tree, 
covered all over with branches, laden with the 
choicest fruit, and bending down to the earth. 

He was, through life, an indefatigable student ; 



206 EIGHTY YEARS. 

feeding his people with knowledge and not with 
wind. It was his habit to spend the earlier part 
of every Aveek in reading, chiefly professional ; 
and the latter part in arranging and elaborating 
his discourses, not writing, but manipulating them 
Avith his thoughts till they stood out complete and 
illuminated in every part before his mind's eye ; 
scrupulously redeeming for this purpose, every 
fragment of time, cut up as his time always was, 
into fragments. His style was singularly chaste, 
almost classic. His language was polished, until, 
like the clearest crystal, it transmitted without 
tinging or refracting the light of his thoughts. 
He had acquired the art, so seldom acquired, of 
saying exactly what he wanted to say. He was 
not eloquent, in the popular and profane sense of 
that word. He knew not, and despised to know 
how to make the crowd gape and applaud. He 
practiced no stares or starts, or mouthings, or at- 
titudenizing, or stage tricks, or pulpit imperti- 
nences of any kind. Self-possessed, simple, sol- 
emn, he might have served for the original of 
Cowper's preacher. 

But his chief poAver, and it is the highest species 
of power — far mightier than the strong arm, or 
the giant intellect, or the iron will — was the 
POAVER OF GOODNESS. I Say it deliberately, and 
you, Avho haA^e known him so long and so well, 
are all Avitnesses, Dr. Johns approached as near 
perfection in moral character, as is allowed to 
mortals. His tastes were all elcA^ated, his sensi- 
bilities refined, his Avhole nature recoiled Avith its 
A^ery strongest instincts from the approach of 
anything Ioav or base. His spirit, gentle as that 



APPENDIX. 207 

of a child, loving as that of a mother, was the 
clear reflection of His " who was meek and lowly 
in heart." He was " clothed with hmnility," as 
with a garment, which only heightened while it 
sought to conceal his excellence. Simple and un- 
3retentious, always ready to take the lowest 
3lace, and to esteem others better than himself; 
ike the Master, he accounted it his highest honor 
to be " the servant of all." Forgetful of himself, 
there was nothing about him lo repel the ap- 
proach of the humblest ; and " nothing which con- 
cerned man did he regard as foreign to himself." 
His sympathies were quick and warm, leading 
him to enter intuitively, and with his w^hole heart, 
into the feelings of others — to '' rejoice with those 
who rejoiced and to weep with those who wept." 
Whoever approached him in perplexity or in sor- 
row and did not find him a brother indeed ? O ! 
how this large-heartedness grappled his friends 
to him with hooks of steel. The purity of his 
motives was transparent, the sincerity of his pro- 
fessions undoubted. And this goodness made it- 
self felt everywhere as a mighty power. There 
was a majesty about it which rebuked from its 
presence everything mean or unmanly. There 
was an inspiration about it which imparted, at 
least a temporary, elevation, to all who came 
within its reach. There was a charm about it 
which extorted the homage even of the worldly 
and the profane. How often has the remark 
been heard from the lips of such, " I like Dr. 
Johns, for I believe he is a good man." Seldom 
has the power of goodness been more signally 
exemplified in, any community. The gentleness 



208 EIGHTY YEARS. 

and purity which surrounded him as a halo, Avere, 
however, far from being associated with weak- 
ness or pusillanimity of spirit. He was firm and 
inflexible, as was shown more than once in the 
course of his ministerial life, where the truth was 
at stake. He was always courageous for the 
right — a very hero where the glory of his Master, 
the success of his cause or the liberties of his peo- 
ple were concerned. 

But we have not yet reached " the hiding " of 
his power. His Goodness was sanctified and sub- 
limated into Piety. His Virtues were transfig- 
ured into Graces, He was a temple of the Holy 
Ghost ; and the light which shone about him was 
the light of Heaven, His piety Avas after the 
earlier, apostolic standard — healthful, genial, ex- 
pansive, laborious. He was no enthusiast, float- 
ing through dream-lands, and feeding on visions 
and ecstasies. He had no revelations, save such 
as were common to his brethren. The holy things 
of his own heart he delighted not to drag from 
their inner sanctuary, and expose to the rude 
gaze, and ruder handling of the multitude. His 
religious experiences were eminently sober and 
scriptural. His religion approved itself, as toward 
God, in a life of Consecration. 

** All that I am and all I have 
Shall be forever thine." 

These words in his lips, were to be taken in 
their true literal import. He was preeminently 
a man of prayer. He saw Him who is invisible. 
He walked with God. He was often with him 
on the Mount, talking with him '^ as a man with 



APPEIS^DIX. 209 

his friend," till his face shone. Three times a 
day, it was his invariable custom, from his first 
entrance on the divine life, to retire for secret 
praj^er. Every important undertaking was com- 
menced with prayer ; and in every perplexity he 
sought first the wisdom that cometh from above. 
How often when friends have gone to consult 
him, has he risen up and locked his study door, 
and said, " Now that we can be alone, let us pray." 
As toward man his religion approved itself by a 
life of benevolence. He was always ready to do 
good. What good cause ever failed to find in him 
a friend and an advocate ? His time, his talents, 
his influence, his money, all were freely employed 
to promote the best interests of society. Through- 
out his life it was his rule to devote the one-tenth 
of all his income to charitable uses. And so 
scrupulous was he in enforcing this rule upon 
himself, that whenever he received a present, 
even though trifling — a book, a wedding-fee, a 
basket of fruit — he put a valuation upon it, and 
gave the one-tenth unto the Lord. For to him 
"to live was Christ." 

II. The gospel he preached was the gospel of 
the apostles and the reformers — the gospel of 
the articles and the homilies. His doctrinal 
views were clearly and distinctively evangelical ; 
sharply distinguished on the one side from Ra- 
tionalism, and on the other from Romanism. I 
cannot better express them than in his own lan- 
guage : " Holy Scripture ; the sole source and 
rule of faith, not Scripture and tradition as its 
joint rule. Man — a fallen and depraved being, 
utterly unable by his own strength to save him- 



210 EIGHTY YEAES. 

self ; and our Lord Jesus Christ an all-sufficient 
and perfect Saviour. Repentance — consisting in 
the knowledge of sin, sorrow for sin, abandoning 
of sin, and turning fully unto God. Saving faith 
^-the repose of the stricken soul upon the testi- 
mony of God concerning his Son Jesus Christ, 
our only Saviour, Mediator and Redeemer. Par- 
don — the direct gift of Christ to every one that 
believeth with the heart, with no intervention 
other than the truth and Spirit of God, not de- 
pendent on a priestly or human agency for its 
certainty of reception. Justification — a free act 
of God, in consideration of the obedience and 
death of Christ, received by faith without works ; 
'not an inward character in man, consisting of 
faith as one of a catalogue of justifying graces.' 
Sanctification — the progressive work of the Holy 
Ghost, restoring the image of God in righteous- 
ness and true holiness to the soul, and thus in all 
scriptural obedience and Godly living, by the 
truth, making us new creatures in Christ Jesus. 
Sanctification, being a work performed within us ; 
Justification, a work performed without us. Jus- 
tification, rendering us safe in view of death and 
judgment ; Sanctification giving us evidence that 
w^e are safe." Paul could have subscribed such 
a creed as that, and Luther and Cranmer, for it 
is the glorious gospel of the blessed God. And 
in proclaiming these great cardinal truths, he 
uttered no " uncertain sound," his silvery voice 
rang them out clearly and sharply, so that all 
must hear and none could mistake. 

As a pastor, he chiefly excelled. His great 
usefulness, and the almost unexampled love his 



APPEIS^DIX. 211 

people bore to him were largely attributable to 
his ministrations at the fireside, and in the sick 
chamber, and the house of mourning ; his ear- 
nest personal appeals to the careless and impeni- 
tent, and his affectionate counsels to those who 
were asking after the '' ay ay of life." 

His ministry was eminently fruitful. He has 
left to this city three churches, free from debt, 
and maintaining regularly the ordinances of God's 
house — Emanuel Church — Emanuel Chapel, and 
Cranmer Chapel. The church he served, though 
one of the youngest, appears from the last jour- 
nal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Mary- 
land, to be the first in the State, in the number 
of its communicants, and the general evidences 
of pastoral usefulness. All over this city are 
those who honor him, and mourn for him as 
their spiritual father. And in every place where 
he has ministered, many — how many, the judg- 
ment alone can declare — have been given him, 
and will yet be given him, as " seals of his minis- 
try." 

Dr. Johns was earnestly, and honestly, and 
upon mature conviction, attached to the distinc- 
tive polity of his own Church, as, in his view, 
most closely conformed to the apostolic model. 
He was in principle, what he was by profession, 
a Protestant Episcopalian. I make this remark 
emphatic, because his hearty sympathy and coop- 
eration with evangelical Christians of all churches, 
have sometimes given rise to the suspicion — a sus- 
picion which has been even publicly expressed — 
that he was not fully loyal to the Church he 



212 EIGHTY YEARS. 

served. He held that there was nothing in his 
relations as an Episcopalian, inconsistent with 
his higher relations as a Protestant and a Chris- 
tian — nothing which compelled him, for a form 
or a rite, " a baptism or a laying on of hands " 
to unchmxh and hand over to " uncovenanted 
mercies," millions of the living and the dead, 
who bore the seal of the Spirit. With the 
founders and earlier and greater lights of his 
own church — her Cranmers, and Ushers, and 
Burnets, and Taylors, and Leightons, and Halls, 
he held that episcopacy was not a doctrine, but 
a fact ; not a divine command, but only of apos- 
tolic example — the best, but not the only form ; 
so that, while all are bound to accept it, the 
Avant of it does not necessarily, and of itself, 
exclude from the covenant. He believed that 
the visible Church, with its ministries and sacra- 
ments, was but a means of grace, not that grace 
itself ; an instrumentality for diffusing the bless- 
ings of salvation, not that salvation itself. But 
he did not believe that the grace of God was in- 
separablj^ incorporated with the Church, nor that 
his truth and Spirit were so tied to the episcopate 
as to be " of none effect " without it. External 
forms and rites, and orders and successions in the 
ministry, however necessary to the completeness, 
he did not regard as essential to the being of a 
church. In his view there was nothing incompat- 
ible between the ideas of a divinely appointed 
ministry, and a church which embraces all who 
believed the truth, and were sanctified by the 
Spirit of God. Outside of the pale of episcopacy 
were thousands who gave ample evidence that 



APPEXDIX. 213 

they ^vere partakers of the same grace, and heirs 
of the same promises as those within, and these 
he rejoiced to acknowledge as brethren. "' Al- 
though," — I quote his own words from a letter 
addressed to a Presbyterian minister — "Al- 
though of another branch of the great family 
of our common Lord, I long to see the cause of 
true religion prosper everywhere ; and while I 
could wish all you Presbyterian brethren were 
as I am, save these bonds of sin which hang 
around my own poor heart, I am yet content to 
wish you Godspeed in your own way ; and to re- 
joice whenever, and wheresoever, and by whom- 
soever Christ is preached and souls brought home 
to God." In the language of one who speaks by 
authority here, " matters of ecclesiastical arrange- 
ment and government Avere esteemed by him 
within the privilege of individual choice, and 
were not ingrafted into the essentials of Chris- 
tianit}^ itself. He respected the preferences of 
others, and claimed the same for his own, in the 
matter of form and order, but he belonged, by 
the grace of God, also, to that heaven-destined 
body which his own Church defines as '' the Holy 
Catholic Church, the communion of saints, which 
is the blessed company of all faithful people." 
He occupied the broad Protestant platform 
Avhere we stand side by side to-day, in perfect 
consistency with his own principles, and in the 
full integrity of his heart. His professions of 
fraternal regard toward all, of every name, who 
bore the imprint of his Master's image (profes- 
sions so often suspected and suspicious, so often 
but the cloak of selfish and sinister designs) were 



214 EIGHTY YEARS. 

the genuine and unaffected utterances of his 
heart. Everywhere, in the pulpit, on the plat- 
form, in ecclesiastical conventions, he main- 
tained, consistently, and with unflinching firm- 
ness, the broad principles of Christian frater- 
nity. His name belongs to no sect or segment 
of the household of faith, it is the common in- 
heritance of us all. The whole " company of 
faithful people '' honored him living, and mourned 
for him dead, as the champion of Protestant 
unity. 

III. His sympathies overleaping all narrow 
denominational limits, were wide as the world — 
wide as both worlds. How largely were all our 
benevolent institutions, our House of Kefuge, our 
Asylums, our Infirmaries, indebted to his judi- 
cious counsels, and unwearied labors. "When 
the ear heard him then it blessed him, and when 
the eye saw him it bare witness to him, because 
he delivered the poor that cried, and the father- 
less, and him that had none to help him ; the 
blessing of him that was ready to perish came 
upon him, and he caused the widow's heart to 
sing for joy." 

His heart was knit especially to those great 
twin institutions which unite all who love the 
Lord Jesus, in direct efforts to save souls. When 
he spoke of the Bible Society, or the Tract So- 
ciety, his countenance always glowed, his tongue 
was always eloquent. He loved them for their 
works' sake. He loved them as the visible signs 
and symbols of Christian unity, the broad ban- 
ner of our common Protestantism flung to the 



APPENDIX. 215 

winds, and rallying around itself all the divisions 
of the great anny of salvation. He was present 
at the organization of the American Tract So- 
ciety, in 1825, a scene which all who witnessed 
described as a foreshadowing of heaven — and to 
use his own language, at its recent anniversary, 
" From that day to this, I have felt it a privilege 
and a duty, in the pulpit and upon the platform, 
and upon every occasion in which Providence 
afforded me an opportunity, to advocate the 
claims of this Society, as one of the great move- 
ments in our Protestant cause ; and I have looked 
upon it as spreading an influence over the gen- 
eral literature of our country, with which no 
other agency could begin to compare. Hence, I 
most cordially endorse the sentiments of Bishop 
Mcllvaine, that if this Society were crippled in 
any way in its operations, it would be a day of 
darkness to our common Christianity ; a day of 
rejoicing to infidelity and Komanism, from one 
end of the land to the other." He believed with 
Dr. Archibald Alexander, when he said, " I doubt 
whether there is in the world at this time, an in- 
stitution, the Christian ministry excepted, more 
efficiently employed in conveying the gospel to 
all classes of society." Next to the ministry, 
both these sainted men regarded the Tract So- 
ciety as the great instrumentality for evangeliz- 
ing the world. 

At the time of his death, Dr. Johns was the 
president of the Maryland Tract Society. " Dr. 
Johns," I quote the language of its secretary in 
announcing officially his death, " has presided 
over this Society during the whole of its exist- 



216 EIGHTY YEARS. 

ence. It is now about fifteen years since the 
friends of this branch of Christian effort judged 
best to reorganize the Baltimore Tract Society, 
one of the oldest associations of the kind in the 
country, to enlarge the sphere of its action ; and 
assume the name it now bears. On that occasion 
it was made my duty to call on Dr. Johns, and 
ascertain if he was willing to become our presi- 
dent. His reply was characteristic, 'I would 
advise you to get a man better suited for the 
place, but if my services are desired, they shall 
be cheerfully rendered.' You will all bear wit- 
ness how fully he has redeemed this pledge. 
From that day to this day of mourning, it has 
been both my duty and my happiness, often to 
call and confer with him as to what was wise and 
best to do. I have never found him so busy, or 
so fatigued, that he was not ready to listen to my 
statements. Nor was it a mere passing consider- 
ation that he gave to these interests ; but an 
earnestness of thought, such as men are wont to 
bestow on their personal concerns. I have never 
conversed with a man who had a higher appreci- 
ation of this department of Christian benevo- 
lence." His services, in organizing and presid- 
ing so long and so efficiently over the Maryland 
Tract Society, were invaluable ; and his name 
will always be preserved among her most pre- 
cious household treasures. 

IV. And now we come to the last sad scene 
of all. His work here was done, and the Master 
had need of him for a more glorious service 
above. While he yet went in and out among us, 
we saw the handwriting of death upon him. A 



APPENDIX. 217 

concealed malady Avas slowly drying up the foun- 
tains of life, and embalming his body for its 
burial. His soul Avas mellowing and ripening for 
heaven, and bathing itself continually in the 
light of God's countenance. Ere yet he ap- 
proached the dark border river, or felt its first 
ripples upon his feet, he was admitted — as is 
sometimes granted to pilgrims — to " the Land of 
Beulah," that heaven this side of death, and 
close upon its borders, where the birds always 
sing, and the flowers always bloom, and the sun 
shineth night and day, and the shining ones come 
forth and walk — he stood upon the Delectable 
Mountains, whence he could see the open gates of 
the Celestial City ; and so strengthened and 
cheered by these glimpses and foretastes of the 
Better Land beyond, he was enabled to go for- 
ward, singing that blessed Psalm of faith : 
" Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art 
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort 



me." 



His last sickness, he knew from the first, was 
the Messenger of Jesus to call him home. His 
sufferings were intense and protracted, till his 
poor body was weary Avith its groanings, and its 
tossings to and fro ; but his soul Avas kept in per- 
fect peace ; for God was the strength of his heart, 
and his portion. Come let us gather around his 
deathbed and see hoAv a Christian dies. He is 
looking back oA^er his past life, and thinking of 
that world he must so soon leaA^e, but there are no 
regrets ; for his language is " I am noAv ready to 
be offered, and the time of my departure is at 



218 EIGHTY YEARS. 

hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." 
His weeping family are around him ; the mem- 
ories of dear absent friends come crowding fast 
upon him ; but he shrinks not from the stroke 
which must sunder so many tender ties at once ; 
for he knows his Heavenly Father will take care 
of the bleeding hearts he leaves behind, and all 
will soon be reunited, never, never to part again. 
He sees death, the last dread enemy, approach- 
ing nearer and nearer ; but even as he looks, the 
monster is suddenly transformed into a Messen- 
ger of Mercy, his crown of terrors falls off, his 
dart is broken, his sting withdrawn, and the 
dying saint sings, " O ! death, where is thy sting ? 
! grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be 
to God, w^hich giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." He looks down into the 
grave just opening at his feet, but it is no longer 
a cold, or dark, or silent, or lonely place. It is 
a hallowed spot — Jesus lay there. His father 
lies there, his mother, the dear friends of other 
days. Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, all the 
sainted dead, and he is ready to lie down and 
sleep by their side. He looks upward ; and his 
countenance becomes radiant, his filmy eye 
sparkles with more than its old luster, the an- 
ticipated radiance of heaven surrounds him as a 
glory; for he sees his Saviour beckoning him 
away ; and with glad voice he answers — they 
were among his last words — '' Yes, Jesus, I 
come ! I come to thee ! " It would seem, as if 
like the dying Stephen, he saw heaven opened, 



APPEI^DIX. 219 

and the Son of man standing at the right hand 
of God, calling and beckoning him away. 

On his deathbed he left these three legacies. 
The first is for that people he loved and served 
so well in the gospel. Said he to those Avho 
stood around him: "I cakis^ot express the 

PLEASURE IT HAS BEEIN" TO ME TO SERVE THIS 
PEOPLE ; THEY HAVE BEEN SO KIND, SO COIN^SID- 

ERATE." The second is for us all. It was in his 
last night on earth. His sufferings w^ere intense, 
and he had thrown himself across the bed, with 
his face downward. His brother. Bishop Johns, 
was by his side, holding his hands ; while a be- 
loved son pillowed his head. The window^s w^ere 
thrown open to the night to give him air. Con- 
trolling his sufferings for a moment, by a strong 
mental effort, he looked up, and said in a clear 
calm voice to his brother, ''Brother ! it is all 

AS CLEAR AS A SIWBEAM, AKD SO COMFORTIIS^G." 

Racked with pain ; his faced bowed to the earth ; 
amidst the darkness of midnight ; his only com- 
fort the cold night winds that swept over him ; 
it was noonday in his soul, for heaven's own 
sunbeams filled and flooded its chambers. The 
third, too, is for us all. A few hours before his 
death, he said to those who watched around him : 
" Before my mixd leaves me, I wish to say 

THREE THINGS. I COMMIT MY FAMILY TO THE 
CARE OF MY HeAVEKLY FaTHER — KNOWIIS^G 
THAT HE WILL DO FAR MORE THAIS^ I HAVE 
EVER BEE]S' ABLE TO DO FOR THEIR PROTEC- 
TIOjN^ ; THAT I LEAVE MY ChURCH TO THE 
GUARDIAT^ CARE OF ALMIGHTY GOD ; AIS^D 
THAT YOU MUST TELL MY FRIENDS, I AM A SIJST- 



220 EIGHTY YEARS. 

NER SAVED BY GRACE, A^B THAT GOD MY SAV- 
IOUR HAS IN^OT FORSAKEN HIS POOR SERVANT 

IN HIS DYING HOUR." And SO he fell asleep, 
calmly, peacefully, as an infant sinks to slumber. 

" He died, as sets the Morning Star, which goes 
Not down behind the darkened west ; nor hides 
Obscured among the tempests of the sky. 
But melts away into the light of heaven.'* 

And then, devout men came and carried him 
to his burial. That funeral, Avho that witnessed, 
can ever forget it ? It seemed as if this whole 
city were draped as a funeral mansion, and every 
inhabitant came forth as a mourner. That densely 
crowded church ; its deathlike stillness, broken 
only by the stifled sobs that could not be sup- 
pressed — the multitudes who thronged all the 
surrounding streets — the long procession— the 
crowded cemetery — the tears Avhich consecrated 
the last resting place of one so loved. Hallowed 
spot! The footsteps of undying affection will 
often revisit it. Our hearts will often make their 
pilgrimages there. Softly may the sunlight sleep 
upon it ; and fresh and green be the turf that 
covers it. 

Something more we had intended to say to 
commend the lessons of such a life and such a 
death, particularly to the members of that church 
he loved so well ; to the officers and members of 
the Tract Society, which he served so long and 
so faithfully ; and to those who were associated 
with him in the ministry of the everlasting gos- 
pel. But we must leave them — and best so, per- 
haps, to speak for themselves. 



APPEISTDIX. 221 

And now, farewell ! Brother, farewell ! "With 
trembling hands we have woven this garland 
for thy grave — would it Avere worthier. We 
bless God that we were permitted to know thee. 
We bless God that we were worthy to love thee. 
Very pleasant hast thou been unto us, my brother ! 
Ancl now that thou art gone from us we will 
cherish all that thou hast left to earth. We will 
watch over thy grave. We will keep thy mem- 
ory fresh and fragrant in our midst. We will 
embalm thy name in our heart of hearts. We 
will try to follow thee, brother ! even as thou 
didst follow Christ. Just translated from among 
us ; even yet we are standing and gazing after 
the chariots of fire which conveyed thee away. 
O ! that thy mantle may fall upon us ! 

Why linger any longer about his grave. " He 
is not here, he is risen." 

" Hark ! the golden harps are ringing, 
Sounds unearthly greet his ear : 
Millions now in heaven singing, 
Greet his joyful entrance there." 

He was wise to win souls unto Christ, and he 
shines to-day as the brightness of the upper 
firmament ! " He turned many to righteous- 
ness," and he will shine " as the stars forever and 
ever." The crown he wears to-day is all spark- 
ling — gemmed with immortal brilliants — the 
souls he won to Jesus. The mansion he inhabits 
to-day is very near to the throne ; many were 
waiting to meet and rejoice Avith him there, and 
many more will yet go up to join them, and a 
great multitude will gather around him over 



222 EIGHTY YEAES. 

whom he will rejoice forever as " his crown and 
his joy," and " his works will still follow him.'' 
" Let me die the death of the righteous and let 
my last end be like his." 

A word I must say in parting, to the officers 
and members of the Maryland Tract Society. 
A dear personal friend, a brother beloved — an 
honored president, " our stay and our staff," has 
been taken from us in the noon of manhood, and 
in the very midst of his usefulness. We shall see 
his face no more — never again meet him in the 
committee room. But a voice comes from his 
grave to us saying : " Be ye also ready, for in 
such an hour as ye think not the Son of man 
Cometh. Work while it is day, for the night 
Cometh when no man can work." O ! how 
rapidly that night is hastening on, and how soon 
it will close around us. How many of those who 
started out on life's journey with us — the friends 
and companions of other days — have fallen at 
our side, and are sleeping to-day in some quiet 
country churchyard, or in our own crowded 
cemeteries. Already we begin to feel ourselves 
" strangers in the earth." And what we have to 
do for our own souls, for the souls of others, for 
that precious Saviour who redeemed us with his 
own blood, must be done quickly. 

Here, in this solemn hour, and as over the re- 
mains of our dear departed friend and brother, 
let us consecrate ourselves afresh to that great 
cause whose precious interests are intrusted to 
our guardianship. We bless God, that here, 
though bearing many a name other than that 



APPENDIX. 223 

new name we shall all be known by in heaven, 
we see eye to eye, and are joined hand to hand, 
'' laborers together " in building up our Master's 
Kingdom. Let us ever cherish that spirit of 
brotherly kindness, which so eminently char- 
acterized our lamented president, and which 
glows in our hearts to-day. Let us not be weary 
in welldoing. Let us scatter abroad still more 
widely the leaves of the tree of life, the printed 
words of God, till they bring healing to all the 
dwellings of our city and state. And when the 
Chief Shepherd shall appear, we too '' shall re- 
ceive from him a Crown of Life." 



ADDRESS 

OTT THE ACTS AND DELIVERANCES OF THE 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE OLD SCHOOL 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, DURING THE 

PAST FIVE YEARS, ON THE STATE 

OF THE COUNTRY, 

BY 

REV. JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D. 

[^Delivered hy request^ m the Central Presbyterian 
Churchy Baltimore^ on Thtirsday Evening^ 
June '21, 1866,1 

It is with great hesitation and reluctance I 
enter upon the duty here assigned me. My taste 
and temperament and habits and uniform course 
of conduct with reference to the questions before 
us, seemed to disqualify me, above all others, for 
such a service as this. Brethren and friends, 
however, to Avhose better judgment I have 
yielded vaj own, have thought that- 1 might be 
able to remove some misapprehensions, relieve 
some minds of painful perplexities, and shed some 
light upon the path of duty, in which we all de- 
sire to walk ; and with the hope, however faint, 
of accomplishing such a result as this, for the 
good of our Zion and the glory of our common 
Master, I dared not refuse the service. 

It is a sad thing, my brethren, that we are here 

224 



APPENDIX. 225 

at all on such an occasion as this. The storm of 
war, which has swept so wildly over us, is now 
past. The sword is sheathed, the confused noise 
of the warrior no longer heard, soldiers trans- 
formed into citizens have everywhere returned 
to the pursuits of peaceful industry again, and 
the blessed Sun of Peace, breaking through the 
dun clouds which so long obscured it, again 
shines brightly upon us. During all these ter- 
rible years of passion and strife we watched and 
wept and prayed, Oh! how earnestly, for the 
peace of Jerusalem. Prizing her above our chief 
joy, it was our heart's first desire that she might 
be preserved amidst the perils which threatened 
her. While all along the border, where the 
tempest broke in its utmost fury, churches were 
rent, pastors sundered from congregations, and 
congregations torn and scattered, God in his 
boundless mercy preserved us; and when the 
storm was overpast, our holy and our beautiful 
house still stood entire, and we, who had so long 
taken sweet counsel together, were still seen going 
up to the House of God in company, and sitting 
together around the table of our common Lord. 
It was a beautiful spectacle ; and as we rejoiced, 
we gave God all the glory. We felt as we 
looked upon it, that Christ's kingdom was indeed 
not of this world, that his people, whatever dif- 
ferences might obtain among them as citizens of 
an earthly kingdom, as citizens of the heavenly 
kingdom were all one — all one in Christ. 

And now that all is over — that the questions 
which threatened us are by universal consent 
settled — it cannot be that Peace shall bring upon 



226 EIGHTY YEARS. 

US all the calamities of War. This blessed dove, 
with the green olive branch in its mouth, which 
is hovering around the open window of our 
storm-tossed ark, our own hands cannot surely 
thrust it away ; — not now, when so great a work 
awaits us, — when so many desolations are to be 
repaired — when the wounds left upon our own 
spirits are to be healed — when the cause of 
Christ in this great city demands our utmost care 
— when prophetic events so long foretold and 
anticipated, are palpably moving on to their 
great accomplishment. I have no harsh word to 
speak, not one to awaken passion or inflame ex- 
citement. I would speak the truth, in love, 
calmly and soberly. Let me ask your prayers, 
my brethren, that I may be suffered to give no 
wrong touch to the Ark of God, and that with 
hearts purified from all passion, and minds 
emptied of all prejudice, we may rejoice together 
in the fulfillment of the promise, '' To the up- 
right in heart, there arises Light out of Darkness." 

The Subject which now claims our attention is, 
What is the duty of those among us, who may 
disapprove of any, or of all the Acts and Deliver- 
ances of the General Assembly of our Church, 
during these troublous years past. The single 
question upon which it is held the Assembly has 
erred, is that of the relation between Church and 
State, — the spiritual and the temporal powers, — 
existing as they do side by side, touching each 
other at so many points, traversing each other's 
territories in so many directions, and often so 
difficult to be discriminated. 



APPENDIX. 227 

The Assembly, it is charged, has over and over 
again left its appropriate sphere, intruded upon 
that of the State, and intermeddled with civil af- 
fairs, which, by the Word of God and the standards 
of the Church, it is forbidden to handle. Christ's 
kingdom is not of this world. " Synods and 
Councils," says our Confession of Faith, " are to 
handle or conclude nothing but that which is 
ecclesiastical, and are not to intermeddle with 
civil affairs which concern the commonwealth, 
unless by way of humble petition in cases extra- 
ordinary ; or by way of advice for satisfaction of 
conscience, if they be thereunto required by the 
civil magistrate." — Confession of Faith^ chap. 
31, sec, 4. 

Such is the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, 
and it is one dear to us, for it is one peculiarly 
our own. It is the doctrine of our common Pres- 
byterianism, and as a Doctrine no Assembly, or 
Synod, or Presbytery, or Minister, or Member of 
our Church, has ever called it in question. It be- 
longs to no sect or segment of our communion, it 
is the common inheritance of us all. You would 
as soon expect to hear an American Presbyterian 
deny the Divinity of Christ, or his Atonement, 
as the doctrine here set forth. I have never 
preached politics, and I never will. As a ]\[inis- 
ter I have never intermeddled with civil affairs, 
which belong to the commonwealth, and I never 
will ; and in this, my brethren, I am sure, all are 
agreed with me. 

And now the question recurs in what respects, 
and how far has the Assembly done violence to 
this doctrine. We begin with the Act of lS61j 



228 EICnXY YEARS. 

as first in order, familiar to you all as " the Spring 
Eesolutions," which we quote in full : 

'' Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished 
bounty and care of Almighty God toward this 
favored land, and also recognizing our obliga- 
tions to submit to every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake, this General Assembly adopt the fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

" Besolvedj 1. That in view of the present 
agitated and unhappy condition of this country, 
the first day of July next be hereby set apart as 
a day of prayer throughout our bounds ; and that 
on this day ministers and people are called on 
humbly to confess and bewail our national sins, 
to ofl'er our thanks to the Father of light for his 
abundant and undeserved goodness toward us as 
a nation ; to seek his guidance and blessing upon 
our rulers, and their counsels, as well as on the 
Congress of the United States about to assemble ; 
and to implore him, in the name of Jesus Christ, 
the great High Priest of the Christian profession, 
to turn away his anger from us, and speedily re- 
store to us the blessings of an honorable peace. 

" Resolved^ 2. That this General Assembly, in 
the spirit of that Christian patriotism which the 
sacred Scripture enjoins, and which has ahvaj^s 
characterized this Church, do hereby acknowl- 
edge and declare our obligationto affirm and per- 
petuate, so far as in us lies, the integrity of these 
United States, and to strengthen, uphold and en- 
courage the Federal Government in the exercise 
of all its functions under our Constitution ; and 
to this Constitution in all its provisions, require- 
ments and objects, we profess our unabated loy- 



APPET^DIX. 229 

alty. And to avoid all misconceptions, the As- 
sembly declare, that by the terms Federal Gov- 
ernment, is not meant any particular administra- 
tion or the peculiar opinions of any particular 
party, but that central administration, which 
being at any time appointed and inaugurated ac- 
cording to the forms prescribed in the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, is the visible represent- 
ative of our national existence." — Minutes of the 
General Assenibhj^ page 329. 

Against this action, the commissioners from 
this Presbytery voted, and with fifty-six others 
protested. I will read from the protest and the 
answer of the Assembly, such extracts as will 
bring out clearly the points in controversy. 

Protest of Di\ Hodge and others. 

"We, the undersigned, respectfully protest 
against the action of the General Assembly, in 
adopting the minority report of the Committee 
on the State of the Country. 

" AVe make this protest, not because Ave do not 
acknowledge loyalty to our country to be a moral 
and religious duty, according to the Word of 
God, which requires us to be subject to the pow- 
ers that be ; nor because we deny the right of the 
Assembly to enjoin that, and all other like duties, 
on the ministers and churches under its care ; but 
because we deny the right of the General Assem- 
bly to decide the political question, to what gov- 
ernment the allegiance of Presbyterians as citi- 
zens is due, and its right to make that decision a 
condition of membership in our Church. 



230 EIGHTY YEARS. 

" That the paper adopted by the AssemLly does 
decide the political question just stated, is in our 
judgment undeniable. It asserts not only the 
loyalty of this body to the Constitution and the 
Union, but it promises in the name of all the 
churches and ministers whom it represents, to do 
all that in them lies to " strengthen, uphold, and 
encourage the Federal Government." It is, how- 
ever, a notorious fact, that many of our ministers 
and members conscientiously believe that the al- 
legiance of the citizens of this country is primarily 
due to the States to which they respectively be- 
long; and, therefore, that when any State re- 
nounces its connection with the United States, 
and its allegiance to the Constitution, the citizens 
of that State are bound by the laws of God to 
continue loyal to their State, and obedient to its 
laws. The paper adopted by the Assembly vir- 
tually declares, on the other hand, that the al- 
legiance of the citizen is due to the United States ; 
anything in the Constitution, or ordinances, or 
laws of the several States to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 

" It is not the loyalty of the members consti- 
tuting this Assembly, nor of our churches and 
ministers in any one portion of our country that 
is thus asserted, but the loyalty of the whole 
Presbyterian Church, North and South, East and 
West. 

''Allegiance to the Federal Government is rec- 
ognized or declared to be the duty of all the 
churches and ministers represented in this body. 
In adopting this paper, therefore, the Assembly 
does decide the great political question which 



APPEIS^DIX. 231 

agitates and divides the country. The question 
is, whether the allegiance of our citizens is pri- 
marily to the State or to the Union. However 
clear our own convictions of the correctness of 
this decision may be, or however deeply we may 
be impressed with its importance, yet it is not a 
question which this Assembly has the right to 
decide. 

" That the action of the Assembly in the prem- 
ises does not only decide the political question 
referred to, but makes that decision a term of 
membership in our Church, is no less clear. It 
is not analogous to the recommendation of a re- 
ligious or benevolent institution, which our mem- 
bers may regard or not at pleasure ; but it puts 
into the mouths of all represented in this body, 
a declaration of loyalty and allegiance to the 
Union and to the Federal Government. But 
such a declaration, made by our members residing 
in what is called the seceding States is treason- 
able. Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of 
those States, cannot, therefore, make that declar- 
ation. They are consequently forced to choose 
between allegiance to their States and allegiance 
to the Church. 

" The General Assembly in thus deciding a 
political question, and in making that decision 
practically a condition of membership in the 
Church, has, in our judgment, violated the Con- 
stitution of the Church, and usurped the prerog- 
ative of its Divine Master. 

" We protest loudly against the action of the 
Assembly, because it is a departure from all its 
previous actions. 



232 EIGHTY YEAPwS. 

" The General Assembly has always acted on 
the principle that tlie Church has no right to 
make anything a condition of Christian or minis- 
terial fellowship^ which is not enjoined or re- 
quired in the Scriptures and the standards of 
the Church." — -Mimctes of the General Assembly^ 
jpages 339 and 340. 

In the Assembly's answer to this protest, they 
say : 

" The first and main ground of protest against 
the adoption of this resolution, is, that the Gen- 
eral Assembly has no right to decide purely 
political questions; that the question whether 
the allegiance of American citizens is due pri- 
marily and eminently to the State, or to the 
Union, is purely political, of the grayest charac- 
ter, dependent upon constitutional theories and 
interpretations, respecting which, various opin- 
ions prevail in different sections of our country ; 
that the action of the Assembly virtually deter- 
mines this vexed question, decides to what gov- 
ernment the allegiance of Presbyterians, as citi- 
zens, is due, and makes that decision a term of 
communion. 

'' The protestants ' deny the right of the Gen- 
eral Assembly to decide to what government the 
allegiance of Presbyterians, as citizens, is due.' 
Strictly speaking, the Assembly has made no 
such decision. They have said nothing respect- 
ing the allegiance of the subjects of any foreign 
power, or that of the members of our mission 
Churches in India, China, or elsewhere, who 
may hold connection with our denomination. 
The action complained of relates solely to 



APPEISTDIX. 233 

American Presbyterians, citizens of these United 
States. 

" Even with regard to them, the Assembly has 
not determined, as between conflicting govern- 
ments, to whicli our allegiance is due. We are the 
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States of America. Such is the 
distinctive name, ecclesiastical and legal, under 
which we have chosen to be known by our sister 
Churches and by the world. Our organization 
as a General Assembly was cotemporaneous with 
that of our Federal Government. In the seventy- 
four years of our existence, Presbyterians have 
known but one supreme government, one nation- 
ality, within our widespread territory. We know 
no other now. History tells of none. The Fed- 
eral Government acknowledges none. No nation 
on earth recognizes the existence of two inde- 
pendent sovereignties within these United States. 
What Divine Providence may intend for us here- 
after — what curse of rival and hostile sovereign- 
ties within this broad heritage of our fathers, — 
we presume not to determine. Do these protes- 
tants, who so anxiously avoid political entangle- 
ments, desire the General Assembly to anticipate 
the dread decision of impending battle, the action 
of our own government, the determination of 
foreign powers, and even the ultimate arbitration 
of heaven ? Would they have us recognize, as 
good Presbyterians, men whom our own govern- 
ment, with the approval of Christendom, may 
soon execute as traitors ? May not the highest 
Court of our Church, speaking as the interpreter 
of that holy law which says, ' Ye must needs be 



234 EIMITY YEARS. 

subject, not only for wrath, but also for con- 
science sake,' Rom. xiii. 5, warn her communi- 
cants against ' resisting the ordinance of God ' ? 
Rom, xiii. 2. In the language of the learned 
Reviewer above cited, ' Is disunion morally right ? 
Does it not involve a breach of faith, and a vio- 
lation of the oaths by which that faith was con- 
firmed? We believe, under existing circum- 
stances, that it does, and therefore it is as dread- 
ful a blow to the Church as it is to the State. If 
a crime at all, it is one, the heinousness of which 
can only be imperfectly estimated.' 

" In the judgment of this Assembly, ' this say- 
ing is true ' ; and therefore the admission, on the 
part of the Assembly, that Presbyterians may 
take up arms against the Federal Government, 
or aid and comfort its enemies, and yet be guilt- 
less, would exhibit that ' practical recognition of 
the right of secession,' which, says the Reviewer, 
would ' destroy our national life.' 

"But we deny that this Deliverance of the 
Assembly establishes any new term of commun- 
ion. The terms of Christian fellowship are laid 
down in the Word of God, and are embodied in 
our Standards. It is competent to this Court to 
interpret and apply the doctrines of the Word ; 
to warn men against prevailing sins ; and to 
urge the performance of neglected duties. We 
regard the action, against which these protests 
are leveled, simply as a faithful declaration by 
the Assembly, of Christian duty toward those in 
authority over us ; which adds nothing to the 
terms of communion already recognized. Surely 
the idea of the obligation of loyalty to our Fed- 



APPENDIX. 235 

eral Government is no new thing to Presbyte- 
rians. 

" And this is a sufficient reply, also, to the sec- 
ond article of this protest. Having established 
no new term of membership, this Assembl}^ is 
not liable to the charge of having departed from 
the old paths." — Minutes of the General Assembly , 
pages 342 and 343. 

There was no question between the Assembly 
and the protestants as to the doctrine that the 
Church must not handle political affairs ; the 
only question was one of fact or opinion as to 
whether the act in question was political. Both 
agreed upon the princij^le^ the difference was as 
to the application of the principle to a certain 
state of facts. There w^as no question either as 
to the judgment of the Assembly, whether right 
or wrong in itself, but simply and solely whether, 
as a Spiritual Court, it had a right to pronounce 
any judgment at all upon the subject. Let this 
be borne distinctly in mind. 

The decisive question was here settled, and 
upon the Acts of subsequent years we need but 
glance. In 1862, {Minutes^ p, 624) an elaborate 
paper was adopted recognizing the fact that the 
Federal Government was the " powers that be " 
which are ordained of God, that loyalty was due 
to it, that rebellion against it might be, perhaps 
was, sin, that it ought to crush force by force, 
and that the Church should uphold it. A paper 
adopted with less opposition, as the Southern 
Churches were unrepresented and its action re- 
spected only those in States connected with the 
Central Government. 



236 EIGHTY YEARS. 

In 1863 a paper was adopted refusing to dis- 
play a flag upon the building in which the As- 
sembly met, and reiterating substantially the 
Deliverances of previous Assemblies. 

In 1864 an elaborate paper was adopted on the 
subject of slavery, reviewing the action of the 
Church upon it, and citing its Deliverances 
through successive years from 1787 onward 
(all condemning the system,) reaching this con- 
clusion, "that in the judgment of the Assem- 
bly the time has at length come, in the provi- 
dence of God, when it is his will that every ves- 
tige of human slavery among us should be ef- 
faced, and that every Christian man should ad- 
dress himself with industry and earnestness to 
his appropriate part in the performance of this 
great duty." This action is objected against, 
not only because slavery is a political institution, 
but because contradictory of previous testimonies 
of the Assembly. Two Deliverances bring out 
the precise position of our Church on this whole 
subject. That of 1818, drawn up by Dr. Baxter, 
of Virginia, supported by all the Southern mem- 
bers and adopted by the Assembly unanimously. 
A few extracts will bring out the main positions 
taken in this paper of 1818. 

" The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church, having taken into consideration the sub- 
ject of slavery, think proper to make known their 
sentiments upon it to the churches and people 
under their care. 

" We consider the voluntary enslaving of one 
portion of the human race by another, as a gross 
violation of the most precious and sacred rights 



APPEiS^DIX. 237 

of human nature ; as utterly inconsistent with 
the law of God, which requires us to love our 
neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcil- 
able with the spirit and principles of the gospel 
of Christ, which enjoin that ' all things whatso- 
ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in 
the moral system ; it exhibits rational, account- 
able, and immortal beings in such circumstances 
as scarcely to leave them the power of moral ac- 
tion. It exhibits them as dependent on the will 
of others, whether they shall receive religious in- 
struction ; whether they shall know and worship 
the true God ; whether they shall enjoy the or- 
dinances of the gospel ; whether they shall per- 
form the duties and cherish the endearments of 
husbands and wives, parents and children, neigh- 
bors and friends ; whether they shall preserve 
their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates 
of justice and humanity. Such are some of the 
consequences of slavery — consequences not im- 
aginary, but which connect themselves with its 
very existence. The evils to which the slave is 
always exposed often take place in fact, and in 
their very worst degree and form ; and where 
all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to 
say in many instances, through the influence of 
the principles of humanity and religion on the 
mind of masters, they do not — still the slave is 
deprived of his natural right, degraded as a hu- 
man being, and exposed to the danger of passing 
into the hands of a master who ma}^ inflict upon 
him all the hardships and injuries which inhu- 
manity and avarice may suggest. 



238 EIGHTY YEARS. 

" From this view of the consequences resulting 
from the practice into which Christian people 
have most inconsistently fallen, of enslaving a 
portion of their brethren of mankind — for ' God 
hath made of one blood all nations of men to 
dwell on the face of the earth' — it is manifestly 
the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of 
the present day, when the inconsistency of slav- 
ery both with the dictates of humanit}^ and re- 
ligion, has been demonstrated, and is generally 
seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, 
earnest, and unwearied endeavors to correct the 
errors of former times, and as speedily as possi- ■ 
ble to efface this blot on our holy religion, and 
to obtain the complete abolition of sla^very 
throughout Christendom, and if possible through- 
out the world."— ^a^V6?'^ Digest^ pp. 809, 10. 

The Paper of 1845, adopted by a large ma- 
jority, was drawn up by Dr. Rice, of Kew 
York. Of this Assembly I was a member, and 
for this paper I voted. Its main features are 
these : 

" The committee to whom were referred the 
memorials on the subject of slavery, beg leave to 
submit the following report : 

" The memorialists may be divided into three 
classes, viz : 

" 1. Those which represent the system of 
slavery, as it exists in these United States, as a 
great evil, and pray this General Assembly to 
adopt measures for the amelioration of the con- 
dition of the slaves. 

" 2. Those which ask the Assembly to receive 
memorials on the subject of slavery, to allow a 



APPENDIX. 239 

full discussion of it, and to enjoin upon the 
members of our Church, residing in States whose 
laws forbid the slaves being taught to read, to 
seek by all lawful means the repeal of those 
laws. 

" 3. Those which represent slavery as a moral 
evil, a heinous sin in the sight of God, calculated 
to bring upon the Church the curse of God, and 
calling for the exercise of discipline in the case 
of those who persist in maintaining or justifying 
the relation of master to slave. 

" The question which is now unhappily agita- 
ting and dividing other branches of the Church, 
and which is pressed upon the attention of the 
Assembly by one of the three classes of memori- 
alists just named, is, whether the holding of 
slaves is, under all circumstances, a heinous sin, 
calling for the discipline of the Church. 

" The church of Christ is a spiritual body, 
whose jurisdiction extends to the religious faith 
and moral conduct of her members. She cannot 
legislate, w^here Christ has not legislated, nor 
make terms of membership which he has not 
made. The question, therefore, which this As- 
sembly is called to decide, is this : Do the Scrip- 
tures teach that the holding of slaves, without 
regard to circumstances, is a sin, the renuncia- 
tion of which should be made a condition of 
membership in the Church of Christ ? 

" It is impossible to answer this question in the 
affirmative, without contradicting some of the 
plainest declarations of the Word of God. That 
slavery existed in the days of Christ and his 
Apostles is an admitted fact. That they did not 



240 EIGHTY YEARS. 

denounce the relation itself as sinful, as incon- 
sistent with Christianity ; that slaveholders were 
admitted to membership in the Churches organ- 
ized by the Apostles ; that whilst they were re- 
quired to treat their slaves with kindness, and as 
rational, accountable, immortal beings, and, if 
Christians, as brethren in the Lord, they were 
not commanded to emancipate them ; that slaves 
were required to be 'obedient to their masters 
according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, 
with singleness of heart as unto Christ,' are 
facts which meet the eye of every reader of the 
New Testament, This Assembly cannot, there- 
fore, denounce the holding of slaves as neces- 
sarily a heinous and scandalous sin, calculated to 
bring upon the Church the curse of God, without 
charging the Apostles of Christ with conniving 
at sin, introducing into the Church such sinners, 
and thus bringing upon them the curse of the 
Almighty. 

" In so saj^ing, however, the Assembly are not 
to be undei^tood as denying that there is evil 
connected with slavery. Much less do they ap- 
prove those defective and oppressive laws by 
which, in some of the States, it is regulated. 
Nor would they by any means countenance the 
traffic in slaves for the sake of gain ; the separa- 
tion of husbands and wives, parents and children, 
for the sake of ' filthy lucre,' or for the conven- 
ience of the master ; or cruel treatment of slaves, 
in any respect. Every Christian and philan- 
thropist should certainh^ seek by all peaceable and 
lawful means, the repeal of unjust and oppressive 
laws, and the amendment of such as are defec- 



APPEI^DIX. 241 

tive, so as to protect the slaves from cruel treat- 
ment by wicked men, and secure to them the 
right to receive religious instruction. 

^'Nor is the Assembly to be understood as 
countenancing the idea that masters may regard 
their servants as mere property, and not as hu- 
man beings, rational, accountable, immortal. 
The Scriptures prescribe not only the duties of 
servants, but of masters also, warning the latter 
to discharge those duties, ^knowing that their 
Master is in heaven, neither is there respect of 
persons with him.' 

"In view of the above stated principles and 
facts : 

" Resolved^ 1. That the General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church \vl the United States 
was originally organized, and has since continued 
the bond of union in the Church, upon the con- 
ceded principle that the existence of domestic 
slavery, under the circumstances in which it is 
found in the Southern portion of the country, is 
no bar to Christian communion. 

" 2. That the petitions that ask the Assembly 
to make the holding of slaves in itself a matter 
of discipline, do virtually require this judicatory 
to dissolve itself, and abandon the organization, 
under which, by the Divine blessing, it has so 
long prospered. The tendency is evidently to 
separate the Northern from the Southern portion 
of the Church ; a result which every good citizen 
must deplore, as tending to the dissolution of the 
Union of our beloved country, and which every 
enlightened Christian will oppose as bringing 
about a ruinous and unnecessarv schism between 



242 EIGHTY YEARS. 

brethren who maintain a common faith." — 
Baird's Digest^ p, 813. 

In 1846 the General Assembly affirmed the 
agreement of all its Deliverances on the subject 
of slavery in these words : 

" Our Church has, from time to time, during a 
period of nearly sixty years, expressed its views 
on the subject of slavery. During all this period 
it has held and uttered substantially the same 
sentiments. Believing that this uniform testi- 
mony is true, and capable of vindication from 
the Word of God, the Assembly is at the same 
time clearly of the opinion that it has already 
deliberately and solemnly spoken on this subject 
with sufficient fullness and clearness. Therefore, 

" Besolvedj That in the judgment of this 
House, the action of the General Assembly of 
1845 was not intended to deny or rescind the 
testimony uttered often by the General Assem- 
blies previous to that date." — BaircVs Digest^ jp. 
814. 

The last Assembly affirmed that the actions of 
'64 and '65 are not contradictory of any previous 
actions. 

The seeming contradiction vanishes when we 
remember that the Assembly held that the mere 
relation of master and slave was not sinful, and 
could not be made a bar to communion. This is 
the fact which the paper of 1845 affirms and 
draws out to its legitimate consequences. The 
papers of 1818 and 1864, on the other hand, 
affirm that the system of slavery, with all the 
laws, usages and abuses which had actually 
grown up within and around it was an evil. The 



APPE]S^DIX. 243 

one condemns the sj^stem as sinful, the other de- 
nies that every one implicated in the system is 
necessarily a sinner. 

We come now to the action of 1865, Avhich 
differs in one essential feature from all these. 
In all former Deliverances the Assembly simply 
exercised its office of instruction, and propounded 
its opinions or sentiments as a Religious Teacher. 
Here it exercises its power of Government. 

" I. The riglit of every Presbytery to exam- 
ine ministers asking admission into their body, as 
to their soundness in the faith, w^hich has been 
long acknowledged and practiced by our Pres- 
bj^teries, implies their right by parity of reason- 
ing to examine them on all subjects which seri- 
ously affect the peace, purity, and unity of the 
Church. 

"II. The exercise of this right becomes an 
imperative duty, in the present circumstances of 
our country, when, after the crushing by military 
force of an atrocious rebellion against the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, for the perpetua- 
tion of slavery, many ministers who have aided 
and abetted this revolt, may seek admission into 
Presbyteries located in the loyal States. There- 
fore, 

" III. It is hereby ordered that all our Pres- 
byteries examine every minister applying for ad- 
mission from any Presbytery or other ecclesias- 
tical body in the Southern States, on the following 
points : 

" 1. Whether he has in any way, directly or 
indirecth^, of his own free will and consent, or 
without external constraint, been concerned at 



244 EIGHTY YEARS. 

any time in aiding or countenancing the rebellion 
and the war which has been waged against the 
United States ; and if it be found by his own 
confession or from suiBcient testimony, that he 
has been so concerned, that he be required to 
confess and forsake his sin in this regard before 
he shall be received. 

" 2. Whether he holds that the system of 
negro slavery in the South is a Divine institu- 
tion, and that it is ' the peculiar mission of the 
Southern Church to conserve the institution of 
slavery as there maintained,' and if it be found 
that he holds either of these doctrines, that he be 
not received without renouncing and forsaking 
these errors. 

" y. Church sessions are also ordered to ex- 
amine all applicants for church membership by 
persons from the Southern States, or who have 
been living in the South since the rebellion, con- 
cerning their conduct and principles on the points 
above specified ; and if it be found that of their 
own free will they have taken up arms against 
the United States, or that they hold slavery to 
be an ordinance of God, as above stated, such 
persons shall not be admitted to the communion 
of the Church till they give evidence of repent- 
ance for their sin and renounce their error. 

"VI. The General Assembly gives counsel to 
the several church courts specified in these or- 
ders, that in discharging the duties enjoined 
therein, due regard be paid to the circumstances 
of the case and that justice be tempered with 
mercy. Especially is this counsel given to 
churches in the border States, where many im- 



APPEIS^DIX. 245 

pulsive and ardent young men, without due con- 
sideration, have been led away by their supe- 
riors, or seduced from their loyalty by their 
erroneous interpretation of the doctrine of State 
rights." — Mimttes 1865,^. 563. 

The Assembly just adjourned does not properly 
come under our notice here, for confessedly, 
there was nothing political in its Acts and Deliv- 
erances, save as these contained incidental refer- 
ences to the Acts of preceding Assemblies. The 
'' Declaration and Testimony " against which, 
and against the Presbytery of Louisville which 
adopted, and the individual ministers and elders 
who signed it, the judgment of the Assembly 
was pronounced, was a strictly ecclesiastical pa- 
per, and contained nothing political. The offense 
charged against those who adopted and signed 
it, was not political but ecclesiastical. They 
were condemned for, what was declared to be an 
act of defiance and insubordination against the 
lawful authority of the highest court of the 
Church. It was not for the principles they 
avowed, for those principles were mainly true — 
nor for the dissent and disapproval they uttered 
against the Acts of the Assembly, for the As- 
sembly explicitly recognized their right to dis- 
sent ; nor for their refusal to carry out any sup- 
posed orders of the Assembly, for this the As- 
sembly did not require, but simply and solely 
because of their open defiance of the authority 
of a court to which their ordination vows and 
the laws of Christ's House bound them to submit. 
I am not saying now that the process was prop- 
erly conducted, for I do not think so, and voted 



246 EIGHTY YEARS. 

against it, at every step, but simply that the 
whole matter was ecclesiastical, not political, and 
the errors, whatever they were, were altogether 
errors in the mode of conducting a process which 
it was confessedly competent to conduct. And 
I give it as my honest opinion from constant and 
large intercourse with members of the Assembly, 
and especially of its leaders, and from careful 
observation of their spirit and purposes, that had 
it not been for the lavish distribution through 
the house of the Declaration and Testimony in 
printed form, which they regarded as an intended 
insult and defiance of their authority, and for the 
presence of some whom they considered as sent 
there in open contempt of them as a court of 
Christ's House, there would have been nothing 
done at the last Assembly to occasion disquiet to 
any — nothing but efforts to bind up what was 
broken. That is my honest and deliberate opin- 
ion, which you may take for what it is worth. I 
diftered from the policy pursued, but I feel 
bound to say, that in my judgment, it sprang 
from a sincere desire to vindicate what was con- 
sidered the lawful authority and dignity of the 
highest court of Christ's House. 

It has been often repeated that the commis- 
sioners from the Louisville Presbytery were ex- 
pelled from the house without having a trial. 
The simple fact w^as that they were suspended 
from their privileges as members of the body un- 
til their case should be taken up, when, by ex- 
press resolution, their right to a full hearing was 
recognized. And this suspension until their case 
was taken up was justified by those ^vho advo- 



APPENDIX. 247 

cated it, on the principle recognized in our book, 
that where persons are charged with grave of- 
fenses, the court which takes cognizance of the 
case may suspend them from their privileges 
until it can be taken up. 

It has been charged that the spirit of the As- 
sembly was unkind, particularly toward our 
Southern brethren. An answer may be found 
in the following paper, offered by me and 
adopted almost unanimously : 

" Whereas, The churches in that portion of 
our country lately in rebellion, whose names ap- 
pear upon our roll, have not been represented in 
this Assembly, and still remain in a state of sep- 
aration from us ; and whereas, the measures 
adopted by this Assembly, if not carried out by 
the lower courts in a spirit of great meekness 
and forbearance, may result in perpetuating and 
embittering divisions already existing, and ex- 
tending them over portions of our Church now 
at peace. Therefore, be it 

'' Hesolved, That this Assembly greatly de- 
plores the continued separation between ourselves 
and our Southern brethren, so long united with 
us in the bonds of Christian love and ecclesias- 
tical fellowship, and expresses the earnest desire 
that the way may be soon opened for a reunion on 
the basis of our common standards, and on terms 
consistent with truth and righteousness. 

" Resolved, That the lower courts who may be 
called upon to execute the measures of this As- 
sembly, be enjoined to proceed therein with great 
meekness and forbearance, and in a spirit of kind- 
ness and conciliation, to the end that strifes and 



248 EIGHTY YEARS. 

dissensions be not multiplied and inflamed and 
extended still more widely, and that the disci- 
pline of Christ's House may prove for edification 
and not for destruction." — Proceedings^ 1866, j>. 
99. 

It is a mistake that the last Assembly requires 
any oath of any kind from the members of our 
churches. It is a mistake that it claims or holds 
Zion Church, in Charleston, S. C, as its property 
—or that any Assembly at any time went in a 
body to the rooms of any Loyal League and made 
political speeches, or rose to their feet and sang 
patriotic songs. These are little things, men- 
tioned here only as specimens of misapprehen- 
sions extensively prevailing and encountered by 
us upon the streets. 

And now from this long and tedious review w^e 
come back to the simple question before us. 

The Assembly declares that the Federal Gov- 
ernment is that ordinance of God Avhich we are 
bound to reverence and obey ; and that rebellion 
against it is a sin, to be visited upon those guilty 
of it as other sins. These two statements em- 
brace in substance the whole. And now, with- 
out any question as to whether they are true or 
false in themselves, had the Church as such a 
right to declare and enforce them ? If not, did 
it intermeddle with civil affairs which concern 
the CommonAvealth in such a way and so far as 
to make it an apostate Church ? 

In reply we remark : I. These Acts are in 
entire harmony with the Acts and Deliverances 
of our Church from its very beginning in this 



APPENDIX. 249 

country. And if apostate now, and because of 
these, then has the Presbyterian Church in this 
land been always apostate. In Baird's Digest, 
under the caption '' Pastoral Letter on occasion 
of the old French War," before the Assembly 
was organized, the Synod of New York says: 
" We look on ourselves bound, not only as mem- 
bers of the community, but by the duty of our 
office, as those who are intrusted with the decla- 
ration of God's revealed will, to exhort all to 
implore God's mercy for themselves, their chil- 
dren, country and nation, their and our rightful 
and gracious sovereign. King George the Second, 
his royal family, all officers civil and military." 
The highest Church court distinctly recognizes 
the reigning King, "the powers that be," as ''our 
rightful and gracious sovereign." — BaircTs Di- 
gest, p, 820. 

Again we find "A Pastoral Letter on the 
Eepeal of the Stamp Act," in which, after speak- 
ing of the imposition of unusual taxes, the severe 
restrictions on trade, the almost total stagnation 
of business and the danger of being deprived of 
the blessing of English liberty, from all which 
they had been delivered by the clemency of the 
Government, we find these words : " You will not 
forget to honor your King and pay a due submis- 
sion to his august Parliament. Let this fresh 
instance of royal clemency increase the ardor of 
your affection to the person, family and govern- 
ment of our rightful and gracious sovereign. 
We most earnestly recommend it to you to en- 
courage and strengthen the hands of Govern- 
ment, to demonstrate on every proper occasion 



250 ■ EIGHTY YEARS. 

your undissembled love for your mother country 
and your attachment to her true interest, so in- 
separably connected with your own." — Do,p, 821. 

Again, " on the Kevolutionary War," after 
stating that in such a crisis as that of impending 
war, they felt bound as the highest tribunal of 
the Church, to speak to the congregations under 
their care, and after reviewing the causes which 
led to the war, they go on in these words : " First, 
In carrying on this important struggle let every 
opportunity be taken to express your attachment 
and respect to our sovereign. King George, and 
to the revolution principles by which his august 
family was seated on the British throne. Sec- 
ondly, Be careful to maintain the union which at 
present subsists through all the colonies; nothing 
can be more manifest than that the success of 
every measure depends on its being inviolably 
preserved. In particular as the Continental Con- 
gress now sitting at Philadelphia consists of dele- 
gates chosen in the most free and unbiased 
manner by the body of the people, let them not 
only be treated with respect and encouraged in 
their difficult service, but adhere firmly to their 
resolutions, and let it be seen that they are able 
to bring out the whole strength of this vast 
country to carrv them into execution." — Do. jp. 
823. 

What more has any Assembly said ? 

See again '^ Address to the French Minister on 
the birth of the Dauphin," and " Address to Wash- 
ington on his election to the Presidenc}^," " Tes- 
timony against Persecution in Switzerland," "Pe- 
tition to Congress on Sabbath Mail," and report 



APPENDIX. 251 

presented by Dr. Plumer and adopted in 1853, 
from which I quote the three concluding resolu- 
tions : 

"i, liesolved, That this Assembly cordially 
approves of the provisions of a late treaty with 
the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, already cited, 
and trusts that the Government of the United 
States will, by treaty, secure the acknowledgment 
of the same inestimable rights by all other gov- 
ernments where it may be practicable. 

" 5. Resolved^ That the people of the congre- 
gations in our connection be advised to unite with 
their fellow-citizens in urging upon the Govern- 
ment of the United States a careful and earnest 
attention to this matter. 

" 6. Resolved^ That a duly attested copy of 
these resolutions be furnished to the President of 
the United States, to the President of the Senate, 
and to the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives of the next Congress for the consideration 
of each of these branches of the Government of 
our country." — Digest^ p, 788. 

And so, w^e submit, the Presbyterian Church 
from its very origin, especially during the Revo- 
lution, the only times parallel to our ow^n, has 
acted on precisely the same principle as did the 
Assembly during our late civil convulsions. 

II. All Evangelical Churches, both North and 
South, have taken precisely the same position and 
made substantially the same Deliverances as our 
own. 

1. The Congregationalists, — The different Con- 
gregational bodies in the Eastern, Western and 



252 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Middle States, as all know, with one consent took 
action, the same in substance, far stronger in 
language than our own. 

2. The Lictherans, — The General Synod of the 
Lutheran Church, in 1862, after a preamble de- 
claring that the rebellion was against the laAv- 
fully constituted Government, that that Govern- 
ment must be sustained as an ordinance of God ; 
that they feel bound, to express their convictions 
of truth and sustain the great interests of law and 
authority. Resolved : 

" 1. That it is the deliberate judgment of this 
Synod that the rebellion against the Constitu- 
tional Government of this land is most wicked in 
its inception, unjustifiable in its cause, inhuman 
in its prosecution, and destructive in its results to 
the highest interests of morality and religion. 

" 2. That in the suppression of this rebellion 
and in the maintenance of the Constitution and 
Union by the sword, we recognize an unavoidable 
necessity and a sacred duty which the Govern- 
ment ' owes to the nation and to the world,' and 
call upon our people to pray for ' success to the 
army and navy, that our beloved land may speed- 
ily be delivered from treason and anarchy.' In 
1864 the Synod reiterates and reaffirms its ac- 
tion." — McPlierson^jp, 478. 

3. The German Reformed, — The German Re- 
formed Synod of Pennsylvania in 1864, resolved 
"that this Convention deems it right and proper 
to give expression to the unfaltering devotion 
with which the German Reformed Church in the 
United States has hitherto sustained the cause of 
our common country, and we earnestly urge upon 



APPEJSTDIX. 253 

our clergy and laity to continue to labor and pray 
for the success of the Government in its efforts 
to suppress the existing rebellion, and to restore 
peace and union." — Do. jj. 482. 

The General Synod of the Dutch Eeformed 
Church adopted still stronger resolutions in 1863. 

4. The Baptists. — At the General Convention 
of the Baptists in Brooklyn in 1861, it was re- 
solved " that the doctrine of secession is foreign 
to our Constitution, revolutionary, suicidal, set- 
ting out in anarchy and finding its ultimate issue 
in despotism. 2. That the jSTational Government 
deserves our loyal adhesion and unstinted support 
in its maintenance of the national unity and life." 

The New York Baptist Convention of 1862 re- 
solved that " as a religious body we deem it our 
duty to cherish and manifest Ihe deepest sym- 
pathy for the preservation and perpetuity of a 
Government which protects us in the great work 
of Christian civilization." Similar resolutions 
were adopted by the Baptist Conventions of New 
Jersej^, Pennsylvania and Ohio. — Do. p. 4Y4. 

5. Methodist Protestant. — The Methodist Prot- 
estant Church at its General Convention in 1862 
made a deliverance of a tenor precisely similar to 
those of the Baptists. — Do. p. 499. 

6. Methodist Episcopal. — The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in its General Convention in 1864, 
Eesolved, among other things, 

" 2. That it is the duty of the Government to 
prosecute the war with all its resources of men 
and money till this wicked rebellion shall be sub- 
dued, the integrity of the nation shall be secured 
and its legitimate authority shall be established, 



254 EIGHTY YEARS. 

and that A^^e pledge our hearty support and coop- 
eration to secure this result." 

" 5. That we regard slavery as abhorrent to 
the principles of our holy religion, humanity and 
civilization, and that we are in favor of such meas- 
ures as will ' prohibit slavery or involuntary serv- 
itude, except for crime, throughout all the States 
and Territories of the country.' " Do. p, 498. 

7. Protestant Episcopal, — The Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania 
in 1864, Eesolved, 

" That we herebj^ declare our unfaltering alle- 
giance to the Government of the United States, 
and that we pledge it our willing devotion and 
service," and will pray that our now lacerated 
country may be so reunited, that " there shall be 
but one Union, one Government, one Flag, one 
Constitution." 

In the General Convention of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States, held in 
New York in 1862, the committee to whom had 
been referred a number of papers on the state of 
the country, preface their report, which was 
adopted as the action of the Church on the sub- 
ject, with the remark, that in framing the reso- 
lutions, '' They have designed to leave no room 
for honest doubt, or even for invidious miscon- 
struction as to the hearty lo3^alty of this body to 
the Government of the United States." And 
further, " There could have been no hesitation 
under any circumstances in expressing now and 
always our earnest and abiding loyalty and de- 
votion to our country, its Constitution and its 
laws, and to all its dulv constituted authorities." 



APPETs^DIX. 255 

Here follows a series of resolutions expressing 
their loyalty to the Government, their condem- 
nation of the rebellion and hope for the speedy 
restoration of our beloved Union, while at the 
same time they avoided entering upon ''any 
narrow questions, which peculiarly belong to the 
domain of secular politics." 

In the long letter of the Bishops to the Churches 
w^e find the following : " AVhen St. Paul, in di- 
rect connection with the words just cited, exhorts 
us to ' render to all their dues, tribute to whom 
tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to 
whom fear, honor to whom honor,' and that ' not 
only for wrath, but for conscience sake,' Ave have 
no hesitation in teaching that the claim to all 
these duties and manifestations of allegiance and 
loyalty from us and from all those States so 
recently united in rendering them, is rightfully 
in that Government, which is now by force of 
arms maintaining such claim. The refusal of 
such allegiance we hold to be a sin, and when it 
stands forth in armed rebellion, it is a great crime 
before the laws of God, as well as man. This, 
Brethren, your Bishops teach as official exposi- 
tors of the Word of God. Less, they believe, 
they could not teach without unfaithfulness to 
the Scriptures." — Do, p, 483. 

8. All branches of the Presbyterian Church : 
the United Presbyterian, the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian, the Xew School Presbyterian, took pre- 
cisely the same action. As a specimen of all, I read 
the Deliverance of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
General Assembly of 1863 : " Whereas, the Church 
is the light of the world, and cannot withhold 



256 EIGHTY YEARS. 

her testimony upon great moral and religious 
questions ; Resolved, that loyalty and obedience 
to the General Government, in the exercise of its 
legitimate authority, are the imperative Christian 
duties of every citizen, and that treason and re- 
bellion are not mere political offenses of one 
section against another, but heinous sins against 
God and his authority." — Do, jp, 473. 

We come now to the action of the Evangelical 
Churches in the Southern States, all of which as- 
sumed the same attitude toward the Government 
of the Confederate States and expressed toward 
it the same duties of submission, loyalty and de- 
votion as an ordinance of God. And I need not 
say that the principles in question are the same 
no matter to what Government applied. 

The Alabama Baptist State Convention in I^o- 
vember, 1860, before Avar had commenced, or a 
single State seceded, after declaring that " The 
Union had failed in important particulars to an- 
swer the end for which it was created," continued 
in these words : '^ While as yet no particular mode 
of relief is before us, we are constrained to de- 
clare that we hold ourselves subject to the call 
of proper authority in defense of the sovereignty 
and independence of the State of Alabama, and 
of her right, as a sovereignty, to withdraw from 
this Union. And in this declaration we heartily, 
deliberately, unanimously and solemnly unite." 
— McPherson^ p, 513. 

In the Georgia Baptist Convention of 1861 : 
" AVhereas the State Convention of Georgia, in 
the legitimate exercise of her sovereignty, has 



APPENDIX. 257 

withdrawn from the confederacy known*as the 
United States of America, and for the better 
maintenance of her rights, honor and independ- 
ence, has united with other States in a new con- 
federacy mider the title of the Confederate States 
of America ; and whereas, Abraham Lincoln is 
attempting by force of arms to subjugate these 
States, in violation of the fundamental principles 
of American liberty — therefore Resolved " — then 
follow resolutions to approve and support the 
Government of the Confederate States, urging 
the union of all the people of the South in de- 
fense of the common cause at whatever cost of 
treasure or of blood. — Do, p. 513. 

The Methodist, the Episcopal, and I believe 
every Church South, at once recognized the legiti- 
macy of the Government of the Confederate 
States, and assumed tov/ard it the same attitude 
of submission and loyalty which the Churches 
North had assumed toward the Government of 
the United States. 

Some of the very first notes of war, as you 
are aware, issued from the pulpits of the Old 
School Presbyterian Church. Drs. Thorn well and 
Palmer were universally recognized as the leaders 
of the body and their voice upon all questions 
was most potential. On the 21st day of Novem- 
ber, 1860, in Columbia, S. C, Dr. Thornwell, from 
the pulpit, discussed the theory of the Govern- 
ment, the relations between the States and the 
Federal Government, and advocated the political 
doctrine of States Rights. Dr. Palmer, from his 
pulpit, in New Orleans, took for his theme that 
it was the providential trust of the South "to 



258 EIGHTY YEAKS. 

conserve and to perpetuate the institution of 
slavery as now existing," "with the right un- 
changed by man to go and root itself wherever 
Providence and nature may carry it ; " and urges 
the fulfillment of this trust ''in the face of the 
utmost possible periL" — '' Should the madness of 
the hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword 
we will not shrink even from the baptism of fire." 
He then reviews the condition of political parties, 
and urges Secession as an immediate and impera- 
tive duty. I allude to these celebrated sermons 
because they were such potential agencies in pre- 
cipitating the political catastrophe which fol- 
lowed. They were widely circulated as cam- 
paign documents, the religious papers of the 
South, almost without exception, echoed their 
call, and the several Presbyteries, one after one, 
stood prepared to renounce all allegiance to the 
United States and transfer it to the Confederate 
States. 

On December 3d, 1860, months before the war 
commenced, the Synod of South Carolina de- 
clared : " The Synod has no hesitation, there- 
fore, in expressing the belief that the people of 
South Carolina are now called upon to imitate 
their Revolutionary forefathers and stand up for 
their rights. We have an humble and abiding 
confidence that the God whose truth we repre- 
sent, in this conflict will be with us, and exhort- 
ing our Churches and people to put their trust in 
God and go forward in the solemn path of duty 
which his providence opens before them, we, 
Ministers and Elders of the Presbyterian Church 
in South Carolina Sjmod assembled, would give 



APPET^DIX. 259 

them our benediction, and the assurance that we 
shall ferv^ently and unceasingly implore for them 
the care and protection of Almighty God." 

In the preamble and resolutions adopted by 
the Presbytery of Charleston, in July, 1861, we 
find the following : " The relations of the State 
of South Carolina and ten other adjacent States, 
and of the people thereof, with the other States 
and people previously composing the United 
States of America, have been dissolved, and the 
former united in the separate and independent 
Government of the Confederate States of Amer- 
ica." The United States Government is spoken 
of as one " foreign and hostile to our own " — " a 
political power which we, in common with our 
fellow-citizens of all classes and all Churches, 
have disowned and rejected ; " calls the Confeder- 
ate authorities " the riorhtful and leo^al authorities 
of the land ; " declares that the people of the 
United States "have violated the Constitution 
under which we were originally confederated, and 
broken the covenant entered into by their fathers 
and ours ; " and concludes : " We do most heart- 
ily, with the full approval of our consciences be- 
fore our Lord God, unanimously approve the 
action of the States and people of the Confeder- 
ate States of America." 

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in the Confederate States met in Decem- 
ber, 1861. It assumed in all its proceedings that 
the political bonds which had joined them to the 
United States were sundered, and that the Con- 
federate States were an independent government. 
Their action throughout implicitly — their letter 



2G0 EIGHTY YEARS. 

to all the Churches throughout the world explic- 
itly — recognized the Confederate States as an 
actual and rightful government, thus deciding as 
a Church the political question then in dispute 
and unsettled between them and the United 
States, tlie decision of which had been committed 
by both parties to the final arbitrament of the 
sword. In the ISTarrative adopted by that As- 
sembly they say : " In the first place, we notice 
the relation of our congregations to the great 
struggle in which we are engaged. All the 
Presbyterial Narratives without exception men- 
tion the fact, that their congregations have 
evinced the most cordial sympathy with the peo- 
ple of the Confederate States, in their efforts to 
maintain their cherished rights and institutions 
against the despotic power which is attempting 
to crush them. Deeply convinced that this 
struggle is not alone for civil rights and property 
and home, but also for religion, for the Church, 
for the gospel, for existence itself, the Churches 
in our connection have freely contributed to its 
prosecution of their substance, their prayers, and 
above all, of their members and the beloved youth 
of their congregations. The Assembly desires to 
record with its solemn approval this fact of the 
unanimity of our people in supporting a contest to 
which Eeligion, as well as Patriotism, now sum- 
mons the citizens of this country, and to implore 
for them the blessing of God in the course they 
are now pursuing." 

It is a singular instance of the influence of times 
of great excitement in swerving men from the most 
cherished principles of their lives, and one which 



APPENDIX. 261 

ought to teach us charity for each other, that our 
Southern brethren who had so long and loudly 
declared that slavery was a political question, 
with which the Church might not intermeddle, 
should proclaim to the Avorld, as they did in 
1864, that ''it is the peculiar mission of the 
Southern Church to conserve the institution of 
slavery." And Ave submit that our affirmation is 
made good — all Evangelical Churches in the 
country, both North and South, during the re- 
cent troubles, took precisely the same ground as 
our General Assembly. 

III. All Protestant Churches throughout the 
world reject our American doctrine, as to the 
relation between the Church and the State. In 
the Church of England, the king, hj virtue of 
his office, is Head of the Church. He prepared 
its prayer book, ordained its rites and ceremo- 
nies, and by his OAvn authority set up its Avhole 
framcAvork. The queen at this hour is the su- 
preme head of the Church, the fountain of all 
ecclesiastical poAver. Bishops sit in Parliament, 
and Parliament is the supreme arbiter in all ques- 
tions of ecclesiastical laAv. 

In all Presbyterian Churches throughout the 
world, except our oAvn, there is both theoretically 
and practically a most intimate union of the 
temporal and the spiritual poAver. 

The Westminster Assembly, Avhich composed 
our noble Standards, Avas convened by order of 
Parliament, dissolved by it, and all their delib- 
erations directed and controlled by it. The 23d 
chapter of the Westminster Confession, as pre- 



262 EIGHTY YEARS. 

pared by them and held to this day as the doc- 
trine of the Scotch and Irish Presbj^terian 
Churches, declares : " The civil magistrate hath 
authority and it is his duty to take order that 
unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that 
the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that 
all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all 
corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline 
prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of 
God duly settled, administered and observed. 
For the better affecting whereof, he hath power 
to call Synods, to be present at them, and to pro- 
vide that whatsoever is transacted in them be ac- 
cording to the mind of God." Think of the 
president of the United States deciding the ques- 
tions w^hich occupy our Church Courts, pronounc- 
ing upon what is orthodox in doctrine and im- 
moral or blasphemous in practice, prescribing the 
duties of Ministers and Church Courts, settling 
and regulating all matters of worship and disci- 
pline, convoking, dissolving, presiding over our 
General Assemblies ! 

Yet all this — it is the doctrine of the West- 
minster Confession — " he hath authority, and it 
is his duty " to do, and all this the queen of Eng- 
land does to this day in the established Church 
of Scotland, and all this the Free Church con- 
fesses it is her right and her duty to do. And 
yet alongside of such a doctrine as this she holds 
fast to the Supreme Headship of Christ, and has 
made such glorious sacrifices and borne such 
glorious testimony to Christ's crown and cove- 
nant. Such is the doctrine of the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, the mother of us all. 



APPENDIX. 263 

And now, the final conclusion from all this is : 
— If the acts of the Assembly during the last 
five years have been in harmony with tlie pre- 
vious acts of our liighest Church Courts from tlie 
beginning, — if they have been in harmony with 
those of all other Evangelical Churches, North 
and South, if they have been in harmony, not 
only with the practice but with the doctrine of 
all Presbyterian and all Protestant Churches 
throughout the world except our own, — then its 
error, whatever it be, cannot be either fatal or 
fundamental — then the question as to the rela- 
tion between Church and State cannot be an 
essential one ; and error of doctrine or of prac- 
tice on such a subject cannot make a Church 
apostate — then all tlie doctrines of salvation, and 
all the ordinances of the Church, its Ministry 
and its Sacraments, may be preserved entire, 
while it errs as to a question of only occasional 
importance and inferior concern. If the General 
Assembly has become apostate because of its ac- 
tions in the premises, then is every Church on 
earth apostate, Christianity has vanished from 
the world, and the kingdom of God has disap- 
peared from among men. I know how easy it is 
in excited states of mind to magnify " the jot and 
tittle " into the " weightier matters of the law," 
but the common sense of all men recognizes the 
distinction between essential and unessential in 
questions of Doctrine and Duty ; and will not 
make the question before us " the Article of a 
standing or falling Church." 

And let me ask here, why, when all are in the 
same condemnation, should our Church alone be 



264 EIGHTY YEARS. 

singled out, as the object of such fierce and per- 
sistent assault ? And why, when the same guilt 
must rest upon the conscience of every member 
of every other Church in the land, should it drive 
us alone to division and schism ? 

The truth corrupted is not fundamental. The 
error imputed is not fatal. The whole question 
is one which rises into importance only in times 
of great political excitement, and leaves the doc- 
trines of Redemption and the ordinances and 
institutions of the Church entirely unaffected, 
and error with reference to such a question never 
can justify division. This is our first position. 

The second is, that the General Assembly is 
not the Church, and its Acts and Deliverances 
alone cannot make the Church apostate. Our 
Constitution and laws are found in the Bible and 
our written Standards. The tribunals to inter- 
pret and administer them are a series of Courts, 
of which the General Assembly is the highest. 
It is a representative body of limited and care- 
fully defined powers. It is the mere creature of 
the Presbyteries, subject to their control, liable 
to be modified or dissolved by them at any time. 
The Presbyteries are the fountain of all power in 
Presbj^erianism. The Assembly is not a per- 
manent body, but created from year to year, by 
the Presbyteries, and when its work is done, it 
is not adjourned but dissolved, and ceases to be, 
and another and altogether different body is 
again created by the Presbyteries. The Assem- 
bly can make no Article of Faith, ordain no 
Constitutional rule, which has the force of per- 
manent and universal law — that belongs to the 



APPENDIX. 265 

Presbyteries alone. "Before any overtures or 
regulations, proposed by the Assembly to be es- 
tablished as. constitutional rules, shall be obliga- 
tory on the churches, it shall be necessary to 
transmit them to all the Presbyteries, and to re- 
ceive the returns of at least a majority of them, 
in writing, approving thereof." — For7)% of Gov. 
chap, 12, sec, 6. 

The Assemblies sustain the same relation to 
the Church that the Congresses elected every 
two years do to the Government, and constitute, 
not the Government, but only so many different 
administrations of it, and are changed in one 
case by the people, and in the other by the Pres- 
byteries at will. Their acts depend, from year 
to year, on casual majorities, and always con- 
cern, not the doctrines, or order, or life of the 
Church in themselves, but only the application 
or adaptation of these to the emergent exigencies 
of times and circumstances. 

The Assembly exercises two broadly distin- 
guishable functions, those of Teaching and of 
Government. As a teacher it interprets and de- 
clares the revealed will of God, and applies it to 
actual circumstances as they arise, just as a pas- 
tor in his pulpit ministrations. It gives utter- 
ance to its interpretations and applications of the 
word of God, but for these it claims no infalli- 
bility. Our Book expressly declares "that all 
Synods and Counsels may err, and have erred." 
The Assembly has never laid claim to infallibil- 
ity ; always admitted its liability to err, and one 
declares and teaches what another rejects. Our 



266 EIGHTY YEARS. 

Book expressly denies to the Assembly all power 
to bind the conscience or enforce its own Deliv- 
erances as the word of God. It expressly recog- 
nizes the right of private judgment, and every 
member of the Church not only may, but is 
bound to sit in judgment upon them, and decide 
for himself whether they be " according to the 
word of God, aside from, or contrary to it." 
" All Synods or Councils since the Apostles' 
time, whether general or particular, may err, 
and many have erred, therefore they are not to 
be made the rule of faith or practice, but to 
be used as a help in both." — Con, cL 31, sec, 3. 
" God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath 
left it free from the doctrines or commandments 
of men, Avhich are in anything contrary to his 
word or beside it in matters of faith and wor- 
ship ; and the requiring an implicit faith, and 
an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy 
liberty of conscience and reason also." — Co7i. cL 
20, sec. 2. 

Every Assembly recognizes the absolute right 
of protest, dissent and open difference from its 
Acts and Deliverances, and if rash words have 
been sometimes spoken, and hasty actions some- 
times taken, which seemed to infringe upon this 
right, no Assemblj^ has ever deliberately called 
it in question, and none ever will. All the Acts 
of Assemblies preceding 1865 were in discharge 
of the office of instruction. They simply de- 
clared, as helpers of 3^our faith, what they be- 
lieved to be the truth, and you are left free to 
receive or reject their testimony as it is according 
to the word of God, aside from or contrary to 



APPENDIX. 2G7 

it. How can such instructions bind the faith or 
wound the conscience ? 

No Presbyterian surely can regard any man, 
or any body of men, Synod, Council or Assem- 
bly, as infallible, or accept their utterances as 
oracles. AYe recognize but one infallible Stand- 
ard of faith and practice — the Holy Scriptures. 
AVe know no infallible interpreters of these, but 
using all as " helps to our faith and practice," 
every one for himself, in the exercise of his pri- 
vate judgment, and upon his own personal respon- 
sibility, receives or rejects. This is the glory of 
Protestantism. It is a fundamental principle of 
Presbyterianism, and we are amazed that any 
should doubt or hesitate with reference to it. 

But the Assembly exercises also the power of 
government. It is a court of last appeal, and 
its judicial decisions once pronounced are per- 
emptory and final. The Assembly of 1865 ex- 
ercised its power of government when it required 
the lower courts — Sessions and Presbyteries and 
Synods — to examine all applicants for admission 
from the South into the bodies under their care, 
upon the subjects of loyalty and freedom, and to 
require repentance from all who had offended in 
faith or in practice with reference to either. 
Their Deliverance here, though not a law in the 
proper sense of that word, but only an order, 
took the form of law, as it prescribed something 
to be done, and as such, for our present purpose, 
we will regard it. 

Let us look here at the reason for this law — the 
conditions it implied and the end it was designed 
to reach, that we may see what it really was, for 



268 EIGHTY YEARS. 

a high authority has told us : " He that knoweth 
not the reason of a law, knoweth not the law it- 
self." It had respect only to those who had been 
voluntary participants in the rebellion, and to 
them only when they made voluntary application 
for admission. It did not go out to seek them. 
It w^as enacted just when the w^ar had closed, just 
when soldiers from both armies were returning 
to their homes, and in the Border States meeting 
in the same congregations. It was just after the 
assassination of President Lincoln, when the pub- 
lic mind was almost frenzied — that time never to 
be forgotten of wild and terrible excitement. In 
the Border States, especially in portions of Ken- 
tucky and Missouri, where the tempest of passion 
was fiercest, many churches were threatened with 
scenes of violence and bloodshed, on the very 
floors of their sanctuaries, by reason of the pres- 
ence of these returned soldiers. Members and 
officers of the churches from these localities ap- 
peared before the Assembly and its committee 
and plead that, for their own protection, they 
must have power over their membership to ex- 
clude those whose presence threatened to pro- 
voke violence, until passion should have time 
to subside. To meet this emergency, and under 
the impression of representations such as these, 
the orders of 1865 were passed. In their very 
nature, as well as in the intention of the As- 
sembly, they were temporary. They soon ex- 
pired "of their own limitation, having accom- 
plished all they were intended to accomplish, and 
became, like multitudes of laws upon your stat- 
ute books, a dead letter. 



APPENDIX. 2G9 

Such, beyond all question, the last Assembly 
regarded them. I stated without question or re- 
buke, openl}^ on the floor of the Assembly, that 
the Presbytery of Baltimore had not enforced 
them — that I did not believe there was a single 
Session within its bounds Avhicli had done so. 
Some twenty others stated the same fact on be- 
half of their Presbyteries and Sessions, and no 
one was called to account. There was not a 
word said publicly or privately about enforcing 
them, which ever came to my ears. The reason 
of the law does not now apply to the churches 
even of the border, and its reason ceasing, the 
law itself has passed away. 

Not only by silent acquiescence, but by posi- 
tive action the last Assembly declared its judg- 
ment that the orders of 1865 Avere not now of 
force. 

" It having come to the knowledge of this body 
that some of the ministers under our care, not 
able to subscribe to the recent Testimonies of the 
General Assembly on the subjects of loyalty and 
freedom, and that some who have not signed or 
formally approved the Declaration and Testi- 
mony, do, nevertheless, hesitate to comply with 
the requirements of the last Assembly, touching 
the reception of members from the South, known, 
or supposed to have been in sympathy with the 
rebellion ; therefore, 

" Hesolved^ That while we would treat such 
ministers with kindness and forbearance, and 
would by no means interfere with the full and 
free discussion on their part of the Testimonies 
and requirements referred to, we deem it a sol- 



270 EIGHTY YEARS. 

emn duty which we owe to them and to the 
Church, to guard them against giving counte- 
nance in any way to declarations and movements 
which are defiant of the Assembly's authority, 
and schismatical in their tendency and aim, and 
we do earnestly exhort them, in the name and 
for the sake of our common Lord and Master, to 
study and pursue the things which make for 
peace." — Proceedings^ 1866, ^j>. 103. 

This resolution, for I know its history, Avas 
designed to declare two things : First, that 
lower courts who should fail to carry out the 
orders of the Assembly of 1865, were not to be 
held to account for such failure. Second, that 
those w^ho refused in a spirit of defiance to the 
Assembly's authority, and expressed that refusal 
in terms of defiance, should be held to account 
not for the refusal but for the defiance. 

This is expressed still more plainly in another 
resolution : 

'' The dissatisfaction and discontent consequent 
upon the Deliverances of the Assembly of 1865 
are abating with increased knowledge of the de- 
sign and propriety of these decisions, and it is 
confidently believed that maturer reflection will 
produce a fuller acquiescence in the authority of 
the Church. It is alike the past and present 
purpose of our Church to preserve within its fold 
all who sincerely and earnestly love its order and 
doctrines, and to fan into life and energy every 
lingering spark of genuine attachment to our 
faith and order, which may exist in those por- 
tions of our country where the spirit and unre- 
lenting power of the rebellion drove many true 



APPEiS^DIX. 271 

and loyal Presbyterians into a hostile attitude 
toward the Church and the Country. With this 
enlarged and Christian view it is appropriate to 
declare, that Avhilst the testimony and authority 
of our Church are to be obeyed, the fullest Chris- 
tian liberty of opinion is tolerated and protected, 
and no enforcement of the Deliverances of our 
Church is expected or demanded, except that 
which will debar from our communion and 
Church courts all those who refuse to submit to 
" the powers that be," and remain in willful an- 
tagonism to the manifestations of God's provi- 
dence and the authoritative decisions of our 
C\\mc\\y— Proceedings, 1866, ;?. 107. 

And still again : " While the last Assembly 
but fulfilled its duty in issuing these injunctions, 
(those of 1865,) it left their application to the per- 
sons concerned, entirely to the loicer courts. '^'^ — 
Proceedings, p>' 1^0- This expressly recognizes 
everj^thing we have affirmed as to the order of 
1865. 

But why, it is asked, was not the Act in ques- 
tion explicitly and formally repealed ? For two 
sufficient reasons. First, because the majority 
would not consent to its repeal, in the face of 
what they considered a spirit of rebellion against 
its rightful authority in the case. And second, 
because many Avho Avould have consented held 
that as each Assembly is independent in an im- 
portant sense of every other, one cannot repeal 
the Acts of another. 

And now I affirm here, in presence of 3^ou all, 
in my own behalf and in behalf of every pastor 
and every Session in this city, the Assembly has 



272 EIGHTY YEARS. 

put no burden upon our conscience. It has 
bound no fetters upon our hands. We preach 
and we administer the laws of Christ's House 
just as we have always done. We exact no new 
terms of communion, we require nothing more 
than we have always required of those in our 
communion, or of those seeking admission into 
it. Extraordinary measures have passed away 
with the extraordinary times which called them 
forth, and like the soldier we leave the field and 
lay aside the harness for the peaceful w^alks in 
spiritual industry again. 

As to the past at least our course is clear. 
There is nothing there to drive us from the 
Church of our fathers. What the future may 
have in store for us is known only to God. We 
are told that the spirit of violence and fanati- 
cism has taken such thorough possession of those 
we once delighted to call our brethren in Christ, 
and of the Church we once so loved, that it can 
never be exorcised. I cannot discern the spirits, 
I cannot foresee the future, but I will wait at 
least till the evil come. We may be told that 
the New and the Old School Churches will unite 
in the North as they have already done in the 
South, and a new flood of fanaticism will be let 
in upon us. I do not know what shall be on the 
morrow, but, meantime, I will stand in my lot 
and wait till the predicted evil comes. " Suffi- 
cient unto the day is the evil thereof," and 
prophets of evil are not always inspired. It 
may be that truth has somehow lost its old om- 
nipotence, and error has seized upon its power — 



APPEiSTDIX. 273 

but I do not believe it. And however truth 
may be obscured and buried for the time in the 
dust of the arena where she struggles, she will 
rise again. " The immortal years of God are 
hers." And I will toil, and pray, and wait, and 
watch for her hour of triumph — for come it will, 
however long delayed. Great truths always 
make their way slowly and work themselves by 
almost imperceptible degrees into the life of the 
Church. It was through the lapse of ages and 
alternate victories and defeats often repeated, we 
have at last acquired the glorious trophies we 
possess to-night. It was reserved for the Presby- 
terians of this land to discover and propound to 
the Churches all over Christendom the true theory 
of the relations between Church and State. Not 
one of them all has yet attained to that theory, 
though they are slowly making their way toward 
it. And even if we do not always clearly dis- 
cern and unfalteringly carry it out to all its prac- 
tical conclusions, every fresh failure serves but 
for a new warning and a new incitement for the 
future, and so helps on the final triumph. 

And now, since our consciences and our hands 
are left free, we are at liberty to look at the 
practical evils of separation. 

1. The law of love is the fundamental laAV of 
Christ's House. Sins against truth, as against 
every other doctrine and every other grace are 
but sins against the statutes of the Kingdom; 
sins against charity are sins against its very 
Constitution. Do violence to any other law of 
the House and you only rend away a pillar from 



274 EIGHTY YEARS. 

its portico or a stone from its walls ; do violence 
to the law of love and you tear up its very foun- 
dation and make the whole building a ruin. 
" The greatest of these is charity." " God is 
love, and he that loveth not, knoweth not God." 
" A new commandment," said the great Founder 
and Legislator of the Kingdom, "I give unto 
you, that ye love one another." "Hereby shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have 
love one to another." " Love one to another," 
that I appoint as your badge and your rallying 
cry. That I give unto you with these bleeding 
hands, starred with my tears and striped with 
my blood, as your consecrated banner-flag, ever 
to wave before your ranks and distinguish you 
amidst the gatherings of the hosts. We may 
err as to our duty in what belongs to us as mem- 
bers of the Church and what as citizens of the 
State. "We may not always discern the dim 
boundary line which separates the secular from 
the spiritual, and sometimes may transgress upon 
the one side or the other ; and the error may be 
recovered and forgiven, and work no fatal injury 
to our souls. But if we have lost " love one to 
another," we have lost our badge, we have lost 
our banner, we have lost everything, and neither 
God nor man can know us as Christ's disciples. 
" A new commandment I give unto you. That ye 
love one another. By this shall all men know 
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to 
another." Strange, my brethren, when we spea.k 
so often of our zeal for truth and tell so often of 
our sacrifice for principle, Ave should speak so 
little of our zeal for charity and tell so little of 



APPENDIX. 275 

our sacrifice for love. " Above all things put on 
charity." 

If it be indeed true that Christians of the 
ISTorth and Christians of the South " hate each 
other with such a cruel hatred " that they cannot 
dwell together — if it be indeed true that those 
who once loved and trusted each other, and went 
up to the House of God in company, can love 
and trust each other no longer, then is the glory 
departed. If passion and hatred be the only 
ground of separation, then indeed are we no 
longer Christ's disciples. And should these im- 
pel us still further to break the bonds of external 
unity and rend asunder the body of Christ, 
which is his Church, then are we guilty of the 
sin of schism. It is no small sin to rend and 
separate what Christ has made one, — no small 
sin to make a fresh wound in that scarred body 
of his, — no small sin to introduce division and 
strife into the household of faith, and plant the 
seeds of discord and contentions among those 
who are called to dwell together in love — to 
charm by fell incantations the serpent into the 
bowers of our only earthly Paradise. We pray 
God that the guilt of schism may never rest 
upon your soul or upon mine. 

2. Whither shall we go, if we go out self- 
exiled from the house of our fathers? Where 
but Cain-like to w^ander as fugitives and vaga- 
bonds upon the face of the whole earth, houseless 
and homeless ? We can find no Church Is'orth or 
South to shelter us, for the same leprous spot is 
upon all alike. Independency — A Presbyterian 



276 EIGHTY YEARS. 

without Presbyterianism ? The house is too 
small, and it rests upon a foundation of narrow 
and shifting sands. In a little time the questions 
which now absorb us, and to our excited feelings 
loom up so largely as to fill the whole spiritual 
heavens, will be altogether forgotten or dwarfed 
and dwindled down to their true dimensions. 
When these political feelings, heated as they 
have become, in the fires of this fierce contro- 
versy, shall have cooled down — when new parties 
shall have arisen, and new issues been joined, 
confounding all the lines and landmarks of the 
present, and ranging us in new ranks, we will 
look back upon the passions of the hour as but 
the distorted visions of a distempered dream. 
'No ! the passions and excitements of the passing 
day, dignify and baptize them by whatever hal- 
lowed name of truth or principle we may, are 
not broad enough or firm enough to furnish a 
foundation on which a Church of God may 
rest. The world is covered all over with the 
wreck and ruin of such, built as they were 
upon the sands, '^ and daubed with untempered 
mortar." 

3. The wounds inflicted by these last terrible 
years are not yet healed — shall we open them all 
afresh ? Through our families and our congre- 
gations shall we plow fresh furrows of discord 
and division, before the marks of the old are ef- 
faced ? Shall we present to the world the spec- 
tacle of strifes and debatings in the House of God 
— the home of Love and the sanctuary of Peace ? 
Shall we bring upon ourselves the shame of 
wrangling with each other in secular courts for 



APPENDIX. 277 

the temples of our God ? Shall we lay up for 
ourselves a heritage of alienations and antipa- 
thies to spoil our future pea^e, and soil and sear 
our souls ? Shall we transmit to our children a 
legacy of discords and divisions, and poison their 
opening minds with the deadly nightshade of 
our strifes ? Shall we plant in this community 
the seeds of a hereditary hate, which shall spring 
up and ripen into their fearful harvest long after 
we are slumbering in our graves ? Shall we em- 
body and make perpetual the passions of the 
hour which have brought upon us such a terrible 
baptism of blood ? Would we embalm and 
transmit them as monuments and memorials of 
these evil days? Would we vivify and leave 
them behind us to scatter among our children 
poisoned arrows and death ? No, my brethren ; 
let us extinguish them in our own hearts. Let 
us destroy every monument and every memorial 
of them which we had thought to leave behind. 
Let us repair with united hands the desolation 
they have already wrought ; and be careful that 
we do not transmit them as a legacy of strife 
and blood to our children and our children's 
children. It is easy to plant the seeds of heredi- 
tary strife, for our children catch our spirit, in- 
herit our passions, and prolong our conflicts. 
And here, upon the border, Avith those passions 
which lately burned so fiercely, still smoldering, 
let us be careful that our breath fan them not 
into a fiercer flame. God is calling us — loudly 
calling us to ministries of love. Whose hands 
shall be busied in binding up these bleeding 
wounds if not ours ? If the Church be not found 



278 EIGHTY YEARS. 

at this hour engaged in the blessed work, by 
whom shall it be done ? 

As for me, I cannot leave the Church of my 
fathers. As soon would I think of forsaking 
the mother who bore me, for a rash act or a 
hasty word. She received me into her shelter- 
ing arms in infancy ; sprinkled the waters of bap- 
tism upon my brow ; cherished my childhood ; 
led my tottering steps to her sanctuaries, and 
surrounded me all my life long with her blessed 
ministries of instruction and of love. God is in 
the midst of her, for I have seen his glory and 
felt his presence, and, as I trust, experienced his 
grace in her temples. The provisions of her 
house have been sweet to my taste, and under 
her shadow have I sat these many years with 
great delight. Kindred and friends, one after 
one, have I seen them ascend from her courts in 
the chariots of fire, to join the ransomed Church 
above, and their memories still hallow her sanc- 
tuaries. And with these memories of all she has 
been, and all she has done for me and those most 
dear to me, still fresh and warm in my heart, I 
cannot, no, I cannot forsake her now. 

Times of trial and conflict may come. But 
such were no new thing in her history, baptized as 
she was in the blood of persecution and nurtured 
amidst the storms of revolution. She bears to- 
day the scars of many a conflict, but from each in 
turn she came forth victorious. The smell of 
many a furnace is upon her to-day, but the 
flames of each kindled upon her not to destroy, 
but only to purify and preserve. We glory in 
her past history. We bless God for all she has 



APPENDIX. 2Y9 

been permitted to do for his truth and his 
worship, and for the salvation of men. And 
to-day she still stands amidst the tribes of Israel, 
her glorious banner streaming, as of old, in the 
front rank of the Sacramental Host. What 
though confusion may happen for the moment to 
a little portion of her ranks, the mighty host is 
still moving onward, for her God is with her — 
her Glory and her Defense. And never, perhaps, 
has he given such abundant tokens of his pres- 
ence and his power in her sanctuaries as during 
the past year. Never, perhaps, was his Spirit 
more largely poured out or more numerous con- 
verts gathered into her bosom. Ah, my breth- 
ren, this is what we want, — to have our minds 
turned away from these ephemeral questions to 
the great things which pertain to the King. A 
revival of religion, an outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit upon our churches, and our own souls — • 
how soon this would hush all these agitations 
and unite all our hearts in the unity of the 
Spirit and the bonds of peace. 



OCT 14' 



\B99 



